Posted on 07/07/2011 5:52:19 AM PDT by flowerplough
Autum Ashante, a highly academically accomplished 13-year-old from the Bronx, N.Y., planned to start her freshman year at the University of Connecticut this fall. Now, her father says, the school has rescinded her acceptance, the Daily News reports.
Batin Ashante said that his daughter was "devastated" after university officials called him yesterday to deliver the bad news. "They said they now feel she's not academically ready," he said. "That's BS!"
When the story was first reported in mid-June, UConn spokesman Richard Veilleaux confirmed that Autum had been accepted to the school but said university officials were still waiting for the family to formally enroll. Autum -- a homeschooled student widely described as a "prodigy," who speaks four languages and has an IQ of 149 -- was widely praised by the media and blogosphere.
"I've got nothing but positive feedback," her father told the Daily News. "I'm her dad, and it just bothers me to see her go through this." He said the family had notified the school she'd be attending, raised funds for tuition and planned to move to Connecticut. They'll still go after receiving this news but will explore other academic options. "I'm fed up. They have insulted us and the work that we've put in," he added. "I'm not sure I want her to be involved with an institution that treats her like that."
(Excerpt) Read more at theroot.com ...
no kidding..though I would let her go to convent school.
I was in a similar situation with my gifted home-schooled daughter, who started taking college classes at 14.
There is no way that a girl of 13 has any business hanging out with 18-19 year olds, much less living in a dorm with them. With my kid, we had her take classes at local colleges (fortunately we had a couple of good ones) as an unenrolled student. She would get dropped off before class and picked up after class. The credits, plus SAT scores and SAT subject tests, gave her application a lot more credibility when she formally enrolled at 16.
many of these so called prodegies which go to college at a super young age are just the product of stage parents who push the lower school teachers around for good grades.
Then how would the leftist professors get paid if you did everything online!?!
and then something went horribly wrong.
I am certainly not super smart but I went to college when I was 17, so 18 is not something that needs to be hard and fast. It should really depend on the person.
Yeah look hw he turned out, gay.
You did the right thing, PapaBear! I’ve considered doing the same with my son for history/government/and English. Dropping him off and picking him right up. I am glad to hear from the other GT parents on their giftened children and what they have done to accomodate their abilities (a whole lot of FR common sense). I don’t care what Mensa uses as their catagory of genius but believe me, 140-150 is Gifted/talented and NOT genius. (thank goodness!)
Mr. B, please give consideration to our experience.
Yes, obviously, a teen is always safest in their own home, but, think about the danger of attending a typical suburban high school. Compared to going to high school, there is far less danger at from other students, and teachers at the community college or close by university. Why?
1) A 13 year old can't drive, and there is no school bus service to the local community college. There is no sexual or physical school bus harassment. They will not be taking rides from other immature high school students who are inexperienced drivers and may be drinking or using drugs.
2) The mom or dad has to wait while they take their classes and take them home. Not only does the 13 year old know that mom or dad's presence is nearby but so does every potential predator from teachers, students, office personnel, and janitor. Even if the parent isn't there 100% of the time, they can and do show up at any time. In the common high school, it is rare to have the parents present at any time at all except for special events and parent-teacher conferences.
3) Obviously, a 13 year old will be unique on campus. This means that the responsible members of the community, which is just about everyone, will be somewhat vigilant about the safety of the 13 year old and potential predators know this. In high school they are part of the anonymous blob.
4) Students attending college are generally more responsible, disciplined, and are **older**, with more life experience than a high schooler. Just by being in college, they are generally from that group of citizens who are more disciplined. These students do indeed have more impulse control than the typical high schooler. They have likely heard about and understand the serious implications of statutory rape. The common high schooler is younger, has less impulse control, less life experience, and has far ** fewer** **adult** eyes watching him. The typical high schooler knows that mom and dad are not anywhere near by to interfere with any nefarious plan of his.
5) The average age at the community college was near 30. They are **not** interested in a 13 year old. Also...The 13 year thinks anyone over 15 is **OLD**!!
6) In their personal lives the 13 year old will be involved in typical 13 year old stuff: ballet recitals, church, birthday parties with friends, scouts, YMCA basketball...etc.
7) While we attended many wonderful university programs together as a family, we recognized that the typical experience of being independent on campus would be as graduate school students.
( Not proof read.)
I’m with you on a COMMUNITY colllege. We have a fine one here as well.
I just wouldn’t put a daughter on a state college campus, but that’s my choice within my own house - your house may vary.
To be honest, having kids at college was a constant concern for my husband and me. To say that they were safer at the community college, and later at a local university, than at the local high school, did not eliminate the danger that they did, indeed, face daily.
I also believe that your idea of having bright teens start businesses is an excellent and very valid option. Don't we have the example of Thomas Edison? :-)
Personally, in my opinion, Charles Murray is right! College should be dumped for all but a very few programs of study. We should abandon the B.S./B.A. degree and move to qualifying exams.
Why not have qualifying exams starting in first grade? Why not have the **entire** K-12 program on-line, on the Internet. Private qualifying exams would prove that the student had mastered the course material. Why not dump high school, middle school, and elementary school as well?
The majority of courses my kids took in college could have been put on-line. The quality would have been superior. They could have moved through the program faster without being tied to the lock-step semester schedule. And...They would have been **safer**!
A Master’s is required to teach college at accredited online schools. I know someone who does this, plus State distance learning classes. She is qualified and very, very liberal.
The actual number has more to do with standard deviations from the center than the actual raw number. For example, if the raw scores are placed on a curve and centered at 100, then 85 to 115 might be considered normal; 115 to 130, above average; 130 to 145, exceptionally bright; and 145 and greater, genius. It all depends upon the test and how the scores are centered on thecurve.
Thank you, Labyrinthos. My son was given a number that this article stated as genius. Bright? Absolutely. Genius? No... thank goodness. The neuropsychologist said he could do whatever career he chose... I wish he chose to pick his clothes up off his bedroom floor. The true “geniuses” I met from his GT school were usually on medication and had some horrible social issues. I’d rather deal with a smart kid than a genius. IMHO
Even if a moonbat is teaching some of the online courses,
the student isn’t under as much pressure to conform to the prof’s ideology, and the parent is there as a support structure for the student’s belief system.
With that kind of writing talent, she’ll be in Harvard in no time. On a full ride with the Michelle Obama Scholarship.
I don't recall from my days in clinical psychology (and administering IQ tests to adults and children) that there was a formal definition of “genius.” However, on the Wechsler scales, 140 was where we would begin to use the term colloquially.
A score of 145 is three standard deviations above the norm. Folks with an IQ of 145 are almost literally one-in-a-thousand, as they represent a bit more than 0.1% of the population.
These are folks who may be aptly called “geniuses.”
That's not to say that folks with higher IQs aren't, well, even more “geniusy.” I remember in high school, there was one fellow with a higher IQ than me - his IQ was 160+. The difference between him and me wasn't huge, but it was noticeable and measurable.
By the way, contrary to the myths, folks with extremely high IQs (160 is four standard deviations above the norm, a score obtained by fewer than 1 in around 25,000 folks or so) don't generally get messed up in life.
My buddy from high school is a senior consultant in one of the leading consulting firms in the world, earned his masters and Ph.D. from Stanford, has a wife and a daughter, is a long-time officer in the Navy and now the Navy Reserve, having achieved the rank of Captain, and has a pretty darned nice life. No medications. No help.
I've known more than a few folks with these sorts of IQs. Some of them are messed up - like folks with much lower IQs - most are pretty successful, pretty happy, pretty fulfilled human beings.
Really, really smart folks have the ordinary panoply of problems that people generally do. My friend from high school played in the band (not a great high-status sort of activity back then), had acne and allergies, wore glasses, was slightly undersized, and like many young fellows (especially those of us in all-boys Catholic high schools) was a little socially awkward and shy around girls. He, like the rest of us, grew out of these sorts of problems, like ordinary adolescent boys, and has gone on to a very happy and successful life.
In fact, very high IQ generally correlates moderately with good social and life skills (the anecdotes related to high school nerds and geeks all notwithstanding).
sitetest
Not to worry — Not all geniuses are created equal. I’ve met MENSA members who are truck drivers, auto mechanics, heavy metal rockers, sheet rockers, beer brewers, high school drop-outs, over-achievers, under-achievers, ADD, dyslexics, pot heads, drunks, soldiers, farmers, etc., as well as the more stereotypical doctors, lawyers, and Indian Chiefs. (I haven’t met a lot of MENSA members who are politicians, however.)
The common characteristic that I have have observed among the genius class, in addition to high scores on the IQ Test, is the ability to think in the abstract and solve problems using abstract thought and logic.
With respect to “underachievers”... the tons of books that I read “warned” parents and educators about this. One may wonder if someone is that bright, why wouldn’t they choose to be a scientist, author etc? It has to do with “handling”. (I’m not thrilled with the terminology but it was used). For example, you have a high I.Q.’d kid born into a regular, blue-collar family (for example). His or her abilities may be ridiculed and not supported. Thus, the child learns to “hide” his ability in order to save humiliation. Another example is our school system. A high I.Q.’d child (if not accelerated) bores easily with school and flunks out. He/she will not do homework or even “listen” during instruction time. High I.Q.’s kids are very different than say your “straight A” kids. If memory serves me, the scary ones are the “risk takers”. High I.Q.’d kids who get a thrill from risky behavior. The type that jumps off the roof or tries to jump their car over a ramp. You are absolutely 100% correct with job selections. Having a high I.Q. is no guarantee that you will be successful and/or educated. It simply means that if you are “handled” well, the possibility of achieving success is more easily obtainable.
I wouldn't equate folks who qualify for membership in Mensa with what we colloquially call “geniuses.” From what I've read, membership requires an IQ measured at slightly more than two standard deviations above the norm, or about 130 - 131 on the Wechsler IQ scales.
Mensa members are folks who are generally pretty bright, but not necessarily all that near to what we usually think of as geniuses.
sitetest
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