Posted on 03/13/2010 9:14:31 AM PST by camerakid400
He may be young but Colin Carlson said he is no stranger to discrimination.
Carlson, a gifted child, was at age 12 turned away from his dream school, Connecticut College, amid concerns that he was too young for a dormitory, even though he agreed to live off campus with his mother.
Now, more than a year later, 13-year-old Carlson said he has faced trouble again at the University of Connecticut, where he maintains a 3.9 GPA as a double-degree candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, and in environmental studies.
The university barred his entry into an African field ecology class that required a three-week trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, because the professor thought Carlson was too young for the journey, Carlson and his mother, Jessica Offir, said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Damn, this kid has the rest of his life ahead of him. Why the pressure to get him through college this quickly? Give him a skateboard, a Kid Rock CD and a summer off already.
The mother is nutty and is infecting her young son. SHame the prodigy is wasting his time on pseudo science as opposed to the real stuff. Methinks Mom is living out her fantasies.
If they admitted him, they should let him take classes.
Agreed. I had an EEP (Early Entrance Program) 14-yr-old in my English class @ uni. He got a paper back with a ‘B’ on it.....and proceeded to rip it up in front of the class. Couldn’t cope emotionally. Sad.
There could be an age limit on trips. After all, colleges generally expect the students will be old enough to be treated as adults, and the kid obviously can’t be.
I guess his mother could go with him?
He’s still a kid. I know he’s smart, smart, smart; but there’s more to maturity than being intelligent.
If he was that smart, he’d get a degree in something useful.
Ya, even though he’s very intelligent and “gifted” if that’s the right word, he has the emotional maturity of a 13 year old.
I feel like a broken record sometimes about absurd lawsuits and such. But, can you imagine a lawsuit like this happening in 1960? Can you imagine a previous generation thinking that they have a constitutional right to anything, and if they don’t get what they want, it’s cause for a lawsuit????
I think the age limit is dangerous. Eons ago I won a 4-H contest that awarded a trip to my state capitol. I was, however, two years too young so the second-place winner got the trip. (I got a nifty purple ribbon instead.) It turned me into an ax murderer.
Seriously, this kid needs to be taught, soon, that everyone has limitations on what they can or should do. Otherwise they might become a failing POTUS.
My girlfriends daughter just enrolled in a similar dual enrollment program in Florida. Her plan - Graduate high school with her BS, then go to the Air Force Academy upon high school graduation.
I’ve known some of these “gifted” kids. They are very bright and eager to learn. On the other hand, they are kids in that they are emotionally very immature. And, they can be very vain, self-aborbed, and feel that they are better than everybody else. They think that they are smarter than adults around them and can make others around them frustrated with their behavior.
Suppose this kid came up with a sockdollager of a proof that there never was and unlikely will ever be enough AGW to matter?
I have noted the same thing. I think it is because they spend so much of their time reading, studying, etc, that they don’t spend enough time with peers. It deprives them of valuable social and coping skills.
Would they accept her for a second undergraduate degree? I am sure they would want her, but are they equiped especially if she wants to do graduate studies? I guess she could pursue an unrelated major (like get a foreign language major first and then an engineering degree??).
Clearly then the answer is he needs more public school. /sarc
Which is it...Conn College or U. Conn? They are not the same.More top notch reporting?
I have taken ecology students for field work in South Africa and Namibia. The stuff we do is dirty and can be dangerous. Over time, the tensions, close quarters, and familiarity can lead to some pretty raunchy behavior. I absolutely love it - the kids, the dirt, the smell, the beauty - but it is no place for a 13 year old.
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