The post #240 by Sue22 mentions what I think was the decisive factor in disrupting Kaczynski’s mental equilibrium. There are articles available online about the psychological experiment conducted at Harvard in which he participated. If you are not familiar with it, you should look around for it–I post a link if I can find it. I am pretty sure the experiment would not get human subjects clearance now.
(Actually, you can find multiple sources yourself if you Google Ted Kaczynski Harvard experiment. All the entries near the top refer to the Murray experiment. They are troubling.)
Re the bullying in 7th grade: There is a book by Anne Lamott in which she mentions her despair in realizing that she would some day have to send her new-born son to middle school.
“calculus, chemistry, mechanics, electricity and magnetism, statistics, microeconomics and macroeconomics”. Great. But not Bio, English, Latin, US history, World history, CS, etc. Music? Art? Athletics?"
Why have an unbalanced expert when you can have a Jack-Of-All-Trades-&-Master-Of-None?
He’s got plenty of time to master one. More important that he master the right one.
" introduction to linguistics or intermediate Latin, depending on his Latin placement test result." He could have mastered Latin in high school and not had to take it in college.
One post mentioned doing things with FRIENDS. That is the operative word. Some kids are on the outside of things and don’t fit in. Being high end gifted makes it harder for kids to relate to many kids because most just don’t have the quickness and depth of thought they do. Being gifted means being out of synch with others. It is not due to improper socialization, it is due to being so different. Friends have things in common and share them.
Yes, this is true, but it’s less important for younger kids who spend a lot of time in active physical play. The article mentions the boy likes to read “His favorite things are reading books like the “Divergent” series, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,””. Divergent was loved by my kid and several of her friends when they were in middle school (while her sister who was in high school at the time had moved on to more sophisticated reading and wasn’t a fan). Yes, in some respects he is years ahead of his peers, but his taste in fiction is not and he would be able to find like minded kids at a good middle school. I rather doubt too many kids at Cornell sit around discussing Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
^^ about divergent serious, it might not be the whole picture. Mine read divergent and most of other well known kids books including the wimpy kid. But she also loved reading a few classic ones, and adult’s books like game of thrones and the first man of Rome at 12. Generally she doesn’t talk about the game of thrones to people who would be shocked. Divergent might not be the only book he read. Also, there are many college aged and even adult people who loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid, including myself. We all can use good laughs.
^^ You read the books, you don’t sit around talking about them with a group of peers. My daughter, in middle school, loved Hunger Games. I read it, my brother read it, but she talked about it with her friends. There are some college kids who like to build legos, but there are millions of junior high kids who do. My friend’s son and his friends like to to paint ball. Some college kids like it too, but you don’t see them all going together. They could, they just don’t.
I don’t think a 12 or 15 year old is going to have the same insight into the great books, or politics, or music or art that a 20 year old has. They haven’t had the time or exposure to figure it all out. They don’t even have to figure out how to pay for one bit of college. Look at how many on this list expect our kids to work for books or spending money or even just fill out the FAFSA. Are these 12 year olds expected to do that? Are they expected to take student loans to have skin in the game?
“Are these 12 year olds expected to do that? Are they expected to take student loans to have skin in the game?”
Mine got very interested in how her finance would work - school, college, what I can help and what she can do, loans. How can one plans for future without considering finance? So we have talked details about our family finance, my job, future projected income, etc etc. We case study her older cousins and family friends’ older kids on college finance and loans.
She got interested in politics after taking college English Composition and U.S. History II, from professors who were extremely politically oriented, at 12. She already had lots of interest in environment. But this got her into politics. She donates to a candidate and joins online political debates. I would dare say that she is more interested, well versed in politics and logical debates than many 20 year old college students, or me. She is often my source of updates on the presidential campaign. Age is not a prerequisite of indirect experience.
I imagine most kids-gifted or not-have friends from a variety of groups. No one is likely to be so focused on academics that that area is the only place they will be around others, so this boy, like most other kids, will have friends his own age based on his other interests. My D has never had friends only at school and even at school, not even only in her class. She has church friends, dance friends, friends from outside academic programs, from social justice activities, from trips she’s taken, from service groups she’s served with. Her friends are all ages from all over. I don’t get why people think that this boy would be friendless either in college at 12 or if he’d stayed local and in age-based school, or why he’s only likely to seek out other college students to be his peers in every single activity.
You may find it interesting to discuss politics with your 12 year old, but I’m sure I wouldn’t. I’d do it with my own kids because it’s part of parenting, but with other middle schoolers? I liked to go to my own children’s plays and concerts and shows at middle school, and while I was there I’d listen to and appreciate the music of the other kids, even give them a ‘wow’ once in a while, but I wouldn’t just randomly go to a middle school concert to ‘enjoy the music.’
And she donates what to a political campaign, your money? My daughter who isn’t advanced would donate my money too.
You sure you never went into an online debate with a 12 year old? How do you know age of others on an online debate? Forks she debated online didn’t know her age.
Mine has her own back account and visa/atm card. Not a lot of money in there. But we are talking about political interest and not impact.
As I said earlier many posts ago, there is a special FREE high school for these kids called Davidson Academy in Reno, NV. There they can take college classes but still be with other kids.
Wow, a 13 year old with their own bank account/ ATM/Visa account. If this is true, that is asking for trouble. Are you saying you let your 13 year old child interact with adults in political forums with her own account?
@savemom, I have given small allowance that dd has piggy banked for a long time. Eventually she wanted to safely keep it in a bank account, and I didn’t see no reason to refuse. Later we gave her atm access and she has always been frugal and responsible with it. If you believe that no 13 yo can responsibly manage his/her own small savings, that’s what you believe and it doesn’t concern me.
Under Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), children under 13 can legally open online account with their parents’ permission. Children over 13 can do it without permission. Yes I allow her to interact in political forums. If you believe that no 13 yo should be allowed, that’s also your personal opinion and I respectively disagree.
But I do hope that you would open up your mind for possibilities that there are wide range of children, some are more intellectual and mature than yours and some are less so, for your own benefit.
And there are; Mary Baldwin’s PEG, CSULA’s EEP and U of Washington’s EEP/Transition.
Unfortunately, only PEG is residential and it is girls only. Parent’s might not have option to move to LA or Seattle. And they are such small programs and cannot accommodate all who need it.
Yes, you certainly have a right to raise your own child as you see fit. I don’t participate in political forums but it is good to know I may end up interacting with a child if I ever do so. I am now forewarned.
