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<p>Indeed, some colleges do offer separate lecture and lab courses, but chemistry department requirements typically require students to take both types of courses if they are majoring in chemistry. I’ve never heard of a chemistry major that didn’t require a lot of laboratory time.</p>
<p>A topic I’m passionate about- and have plenty to write about.</p>
<p>“Kids this age don’t have a concept for…” - that is not true for him, he doesn’t fit the usual childhood developmental norms. This child is profoundly gifted, he will always have the problem of not fitting in with his agemates, even as an adult. He cannot live a “normal” childhod, there aren’t enough kids around with his abilities to give him a same age peer group. The parents need to balance his intellectual needs with his other developmental needs- they face a daunting task of assuring his social and emotional development while allowing his intellectual progress. There are no textbooks out there to tell them what to expect, being gifted means having asynchronous development, his is severe (note some of my terms, there are corollaries with those at the same point on the other, ■■■■■■■■, end of the Bell curve, thinking of the accomodations et al for those special needs children can help in understanding how different from the average child he is). It is challenging enough raising an “averagely” gifted child, my best wishes for them in their task (he seems happy now, hopefully they can continue doing a good job of parenting).</p>
<p>“Playing with friends…” Yes, hopefully he gets time to do the age appropriate physical activites - but do you really expect other kids to understand his sense of humor? When you talk with your peers you have a common set of experiences- how can they relate to his? I noticed my son and his neighbor friends at a similar age, they could set up many scenarios by being able to understand each other since they all were fortunately close enough in ability. Later I saw different friends at different stages for my son as he progressed at a faster pace than they did. The “gifted” label can be assigned well before beginning school, our society is not very good at wanting to acknowledge giftedness. Think of lines starting at zero with different slopes- at an early point they will be close together, but the further they go the more divergent they become. That is the learning speed of gifted versus others- or maybe it is a higher order function…</p>
<p>The more time I spend trying to write “well thought out” comments the more I find to comment on. Having a degree in chemistry I can respond to concerns regarding this. First, his size and physical age coordination issues will need accomodations. I wouldn’t worry about chemical exposure for him any more than for others- good ventilation, etc. practices should be in place in every lab. Also- chemists need to play in the lab, that’s half the fun of the field - if he were only interested in the theory he would be in physics…</p>
<p>There are several books written in the field of gifted education, some for teachers and counselors, some for parents (check with your local library, school…). These include characteristics of being gifted and differentiating it from ADD/ADHD. Another aspect to help in understanding is knowing about characteristics of introversion and extroversion - different personalities do have different needs. Much of the knowledge is the result of recent research so most of us (and most teachers) will not be familiar with it. I learned what I could as my son was growing up, and the material became available- I can look back at my own childhood and see how it fit some of the kids I knew and explained various things, validating the textbook knowledge retrospectively as it were. I’ll quit for now.</p>
<h2>If he were a full time chemistry student, he would undoubtedly take labs. The intro chemistry sequence at my college has 4 hour labs every week. I was assuming lab was part of the course. It’s certainly part of the study of chemistry.</h2>
<p>surely they could make an exception…perhaps allow him to take the labs after everything else…</p>
<p>at my college if you wanted to you could take the labs after you took everything else…</p>
<p>Marite’s comments about gifted kids are so true. S1 is highly gifted, although not at the level of these prodigies. I did not realize how unusual he was until S2 came along. I could not imagine S2 doing the 3rd grade science project that S1 did. I recently watched a fairly lengthy video that was taken by the school of S1 at age 8, explaining his project. Now that I have S2 as a comparison, I am astounded at what S1 was able to do at the age S2 is now. I can now see why several parents made nasty cracks at the time about how DH and I must have done the project for S1. </p>
<p>Highly gifted kids are very different, and prodigies are something else. There are no easy solutions to their education. Entering college at age 7 does not seem to be the answer, but just putting him in a regular school is not going to work, either. I wish the family luck.</p>
<p>I don’t think that child should be put into college. I think his parents should allow him to take several college courses, especially in the sciences, but that he should also take language, history art, music, PE, etc etc at his normal school (unless he is at an extraordinarily elevated level in his liberal arts studies as well). It’s true that this child will never find a peer group his age that has quite the genius he does. But as a child, he needs to learn more than JUST chemistry - that much is clear. Someone mentioned that the child may be more emotionally advanced than the regular 7 year old, but the article clearly states that he has the attention span of a 7 year old, and there are implications that emotionally, he is far from a young adult or an adult. I believe he should be allowed to mature emotionally with kids his age, and allowed to take rigorous academic courses in high school or college, but not to attend college full time because he does not seem ready.</p>
<p>Also, a professor quoted in the article claimed that the prodigy could balance chemical equations, talk about radiation, draw molecular formulas, explain chemical properties… these are the sorts of things we learn in 9th grade High School Chemistry in my school. Perhaps to understand these concepts as a 7 year old is on the level of prodiguous, but I know of many students who are incredibly advanced in Chemistry (International Chem Olympiad competitors and winners) for whom balancing equations is the mathematical equivalent of counting with your fingers… and they have not matriculated to college. What makes this little guy so special? I’m truly all for academic acceleration, personally, but I don’t see any reason for this child to become a college student. A combination of home schooling, registration in online distance learning programs like EPGY, enrollment in high school or college courses as well as regular courses for the liberal arts, and chemistry textbook supplements from the bookstore to quench his thirst for more if he isn’t satisfied with the above, should be more than enough.</p>
<p>“I can now see why several parents made nasty cracks at the time about how DH and I must have done the project for S1.”</p>
<p>It’s funny how all these people question the emotional maturity of these prodigies. With their obvious jealousy issues, it seems like these parents aren’t emotionally mature themselves.</p>
<p>i agree with amb34–the best solution would be to take some college courses in the areas in which he is ready and interested…</p>
<p>Collegealum, did you read the article carefully? I quote… “he has the attention span of a 7 year old.” We all know what kind of attention spans 7 year olds have (none).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say it is unreasonable to question the emotional maturity of prodigies, and especially not this one. His emotional maturity is clearly not on the level of a student about to enter college. </p>
<p>It also seems unlikely that the professor quoted in the article would reject this ‘prodigy’ from college just because the lab benches are too high (and similar excuses). Accomodations can be made if they are truly necessary. This seems to be a nice way to conceal the prof’s mixed feelings about the prodigy’s readiness for college.</p>
<p>^^yes, i read the article. that was the opinion of one guy. Granted, he’s a prof but still… Maybe he’s right, maybe he’s wrong.</p>
<p>BTW, I wasn’t referring to the people on this thread when I was saying that some parents have jealousy issues. I was referring to the ones making cracks about NYmomof2’s son.</p>
<p>There certainly are parents around here who have a problem with jealousy, and that may have been a factor. But I do see how they could doubt that a young child could do what S1 did. It is not in the universe of possibilities for S2, and he is a bright child. Of course, anyone who actually spoke to S1 about the project would quickly see that he did do the project himself, and that he had mastered a great deal of background material as well.</p>
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<p>I don’t think it’s strange at all. It seems to me that the safety/liability aspects are a deal-killer that has to be considered first, before even thinking about the social/emotional maturity issues.</p>
<p>To begin, there is the concern about liability. Lab accidents present hazards to the student and to everyone else in the lab. The student’s lab partner might have particular concerns. The college insurance company might have reservations about the safety implications. </p>
<p>There are certain environments that are just considered inherently unsuitable for young children. If there were a precocious 7-year-old child with a burning desire to be an auto mechanic, I wouldn’t expect a technical college to allow him to enroll. I think chem labs fall into a similar category.</p>
<p>Even aside from the issue of chemistry labs, college campuses are simply not set up for unsupervised young children. It is expected that college students can spend large amounts of unsupervised time between classes, at meals, on restroom trips, etc. Professors didn’t accept their jobs with the expectation that they would have babysitting responsibilities for young students. </p>
<p>Legally, a seven-year-old can’t be allowed just to roam around campus on his own between classes, etc. In some cases, I’ve heard that a parent attends classes along with the child and supervises him between classes, etc. Since this boy has two younger siblings, ages 1 and 4, this doesn’t seem very practical in this case.</p>
<p>A community college dean expressed his concerns about the problems of very young students attending his college here:</p>
<p>[Confessions</a> of a Community College Dean: Prodigies, Policies, and Policing](<a href=“http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/2006/12/prodigies-policies-and-policing.html]Confessions”>Confessions of a Community College Dean: Prodigies, Policies, and Policing)</p>
<p>I suppose that many of these concerns could be addressed if the college provides a personal attendant for the student, but the expense of such a student could be substantial. </p>
<p>Who should pay that expense? The college might well view it as an unfair burden. The cost of such an attendant might easily exceed the student’s tuition payments at a community college.</p>
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Um, amb3r and I have basically the same ideas about this kid (put him in advanced chemistry classes, keep him in age appropriate classes in areas he’s not gifted in, have him study more than just chemistry; he may be satisfied with advanced high school chemistry courses, he doesn’t seem emotionally mature, he has other options, etc.), and you’ve been loudly disagreeing with everything I’ve said. What’s up with that? </p>
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Not every kid will “catch up”–the vast majority will never get anywhere close. But there are some students who only show their true talents or interests once they hit school and are exposed to academics. There may be some students in there who are very intelligent. There probably won’t be any boys as naturally gifted as he is, but there are likely a few who could be close enough so that they can interact on the same plane.
Parents can certainly encourage their kids in one direction or another. I know many parents who pushed musically gifted students to become musical superstars, while other parents let their musically gifted children be, simply, musically gifted children. I never said that the parents forced this kid to study chemistry or anything of the sort, but I do think the parents are milking his talent a little much for my personal comfort.</p>
<p>“Not every kid will “catch up”–the vast majority will never get anywhere close. But there are some students who only show their true talents or interests once they hit school and are exposed to academics. There may be some students in there who are very intelligent. There probably won’t be any boys as naturally gifted as he is, but there are likely a few who could be close enough so that they can interact on the same plane.”</p>
<p>There are many people who end up doing great things that weren’t prodigies. I read one article about a Nobel Laureate in science that said he was just a good student throughout school. However, I don’t see how that is at all relevant to the discussion of what this child needs.</p>
<p>NYmomof2: There certainly are parents around here who have a problem with jealousy, and that may have been a factor. But I do see how they could doubt that a young child could do what S1 did. It is not in the universe of possibilities for S2, and he is a bright child. Of course, anyone who actually spoke to S1 about the project would quickly see that he did do the project himself, and that he had mastered a great deal of background material as well.</p>
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<p>It’s one thing to have doubts, but it’s something else to make a smart remark. You are being very charitable, I think.</p>
<p>I agree that the issues of safety are not trivial. But they can be addressed if the college is so minded. Nanyang decided not to bother (incidentally, I don’t know what regulations govern liability issues in Singapore as opposed to the US).
I also think that it is not out of the question that the kid could live at home while attending college–as my siblings and their kids have done in France–, or that the parents could be allowed to live on campus with the kid, as Brooke Ellison’s mother was allowed to do at Harvard. Brooke received enormous accommodations because she was paraplegic.</p>
<p>This is not to say that college is the best option for this student. We simply do not know how to cope with a seriously asynchronous student. Life is much easier all around if a kid is merely bright or advanced by only a couple of grades.</p>
<p>It’s relevant, Collegealum, because I brought up the fact that given a few years this student could find students relatively close in age and relatively close in ability, give or take a couple years/IQ points, who could act as peers. The issue of finding this kid peers is certainly relevant, and I’ve written about it at some length in most of my posts. You and Marite jumped on that comment because I guess it wasn’t PC enough re: gifted youth.</p>
<p>Given a few years…</p>
<p>And what is that kid to do in the meantime? Go into hibernation? Do you think that while other students grow in knowledge, this kid will be staying where he is intellectually?</p>
<p>since when has there been any political correctness with regards to gifted youth?</p>
<p>I read the comments in the article, and the kid is already mostly home schooled. It sounds like he has friends his age, but I don’t see how attending a university will change that unless he has to move.</p>
<p>I think as parents you are treating the social issue a little bit too simply. Just because there will be other children who will develop intellectually, enough to “operate on the same plane” as him, does not mean they will become friends. This child will probably not be fit for ‘age-appropriate’ classes in ANY subject, since his skill in chemistry almost definitely coexists with a general intelligence greatly above average; and chemistry is just one way to show it. Anyway, back on track to what I was saying: kids generally exclude gifted children. It’s not like they envy them, they just think they’re weird, nerdy, the instinctual hate for difference, whatever. Over the years, this could absolutely destroy his self esteem. And once again, you can’t just throw a few kids who have a few shared interests together and expect them to be friends. Maybe it’s just that I’m 14 and take a less patronizing view of little children, but…no. Not going to happen. From what the adults in my family tell me, the social scene in their age was much simpler; now it is very complex, with numerous undercurrents. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that college would be any better; and yes, those parents do seem slightly neurotic to me. As if they’re so thrilled with their brilliant child that they are not realistically considering what he should be expected to achieve. If they can find a gifted program, that would probably give him more chances intellectually as well as socially, but perhaps in such a program he would feel like how a ‘normal’ gifted student feels in regular classes…Jeez, I hate it when there are no easy solutions. </p>
<p>…Okay, that was…confused. Meh, too lazy to edit and reformat ^.^</p>