Posted on 05/30/2010 4:41:07 PM PDT by JoeProBono
ORLANDO, Fla.- Parents of a home-schooled 13-year-old Florida girl say they are filing a complaint because she's being denied entry to college because of her age.
The retired engineer parents of Anastasia "Annie" Megan say they have gone as far as they can go in educating their daughter. She's almost completed her high school education and they've applied for Annie to take dual-enrollment classes at Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg, Florida, but they've been turned down by college officials, who say she's not ready to be in classes with older students, the Orlando Sentinel reported Sunday.
The parents have filed an age-discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights against the college.
"If she meets all the qualifications but for her age, then why not let her in?" asked her mother, Louise Racine. "What's the worst that can happen, honestly? If a child does pass these tests, don't you think they should be allowed to continue their education to the next level and continue to let their minds grow?"
Although college President Charles Mojock would not comment specifically, the Sentinel said, he talked about the freedom of the college environment.
"Anyone basically can walk onto our campus," Mojock said. "So we've got a very different environment (than a high school). … And we have many adult students having adult conversations on adult topics and that may or may not be suitable for some young students."
"It's a shame to see the (college) administration taking the go-slow approach to a bright student who wants to continue to learn," Annie's father John Megan said.
LOL I didn’t comment on those because they were so ridiculous.
“A 13 year old has no business hanging with 18 and 19 Y.O.s with out supervision, and the college is not in a position to provide it...”
Sorry, I don’t buy into this line of reasoning. An 18 or 19 year old has no business engaging in dishonorable or illegal behavior with a 13 year old. What makes college as a location any different from say a shopping mall?
Thank you.
Oh, and just another fun high school experience that an early college kid (boy, in this case) might miss out on...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5438454/is_your_boy_ball_tapping_has_he_been.html?cat=25
What a shame - we BETTER make sure our kids don’t miss out.
First of all, kids that age can't drive. They need to be chauffeured to and from all their classes. I waited in the library. They took their one or two classes. We got in the car, and we came home. Simple.
Well, there's no question about it ... if one were to maintain that kind of "control" over (let's say) the young 13-14 year old girl... in which they were dropped off for a specific class, someone waiting for them in the library during that time, and picking them up right after class, and driving them home -- yep, they would be supervised quite adequately.
In that particular case, you're right -- as long as the parent does that and maintains that kind of watchfulness and control over the 13-14 year old girl, that would be okay.
I should mention that in my town, many students, even in high school, would take the public transportation system to school. And likewise, that could easily be the case for a 13-14 year old girl to take public transportation to the university. But, then -- if they did that, the parent would not have the same level of "watchfulness" over the kid. In your case, you would "have it covered" in that there was no time for anything else to happen and you were "right there" for every class and every activity.
The commuter college that I was referring to is Portland State University and the on-campus university that I was referring to was Oregon State Unviersity (in a "college town").
And it would be quite simple for any kid of junior high or high school age to ride the public transportation system to go to the university.
Besides that, a 14-year old girl in university won't have to worry about transportation because there will be plenty of older guys with cars to drive her around ... :-)
Perhaps government schooling is actually pathologically harming our young people by artificially retarding their academic and social development. Homeschoolers are NORMAL! It is the institutionalized child who is being deliberately and maliciously retarded ( for political reasons) in their development.
I don't have a problem with homeschooling. I think it's preferable for parents to give their kids a proper "worldview" that derives from what the Bible teaches in the Word of God. And that can be done in homeschooling, while that's impossible in public schools.
My problem is that I think it's stupid and crazy to let some 13-14 year old go to university and start taking her four-year college/university courses at that point in time. In other words, for that 13-14 year old girl to be involved fully in the four-year university curriculum, involving all the time and activities (classes, labs, activities, off-time, gaps in classes during the day, library time, study groups and miscellaneous activies) -- for a normal college student. That would be a disaster.
And while you can maintain control over the very few and limited courses that you went through -- there's no way any parent could maintain that kind of control over the full college curriculum and all it involves for a four-year degree. The parent would be basically "going to college" right beside the 13-14 year old girl, in that case ... LOL (which I'm sure she would love ... :-) ...).
I spent all my college years commuting. I always lived close enough to college to commute to and couldn’t afford to live on campus.
No commuter in their right mind wants to kick their heels around campus with nothing to do for hours on end. You schedule your classes as close to each other as possible and get off campus and get back to real life ASAP.
Finally allowed to be posted......
Is Your Boy Ball Tapping? Has He Been Injured by Ball Tapping?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2524378/posts
Having said that, I agree with the college. While this girl is quite probably smart enough for college, I highly doubt she is mature enough. Speaking from an educator’s standpoint, I would have to censor my classes to accomadate her age and sensibilities. As a classmate, I’d be uncomfortable discussing things college students discuss with her around.
I’m sure this is not a popular opinion, but her maturity level should be considered.
I’m going to take a deep breath...walk away from the keyboard...before I type something that might get me banned.
My next oldest is a boy and he enrolled at 15 as part of an experiment this particular school was conducting with letting younger kids take classes. I heard there was a 13 year old enrolled as well, but I don't know any details. Michael was well over six feet tall at the time, so no one gave him any trouble at all, although he was careful not to tell anyone that he was a dual-enrolled 15 year old since he was setting (wrecking) the curve in his pre-calculus and calculus classes. He really enjoyed getting to know some of the second-career types who were taking classes.
My third, also a son, took dual enrollment classes just in his senior year because I did not think he was ready academically.
None of my kids made friends with the average students at the community college. Their friends at school were people they already knew, friends of other friends, usually home schoolers, or people involved in an on campus religious group they were interested in. None of them were deprived of interaction with their peers because they were taking community college classes. They already had friends from our home school groups, church, our neighborhood, or from work or volunteer activities. And all three have gone on to have normal, successful college experiences.
I probably would not send my 13 year old to a community college, but I don't know the girl involved. And I do know some hs parents who accompanied their girls to cc to provide supervision between classes. (Not in class, just on campus to provide a positive influence.) There are some home schoolers who just want to get through it all early and get on with life. Who are we to say everyone needs the "college experience?"
“Finally allowed to be posted......
Is Your Boy Ball Tapping? Has He Been Injured by Ball Tapping?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2524378/posts";
Yea, far more important they get exposed to antics like this, than meet a 19 year old.
This argument sounds great, but it’s just not convincing when the universities and community colleges have summer classes that include continuing education and summer programs for children. Do you mean to imply that during the summer the facilities have MORE security than they do in the fall/spring? I would guess that they definitely do not have more security.
I don’t know that I would send my child to a community college at 13, because I do not think he’d be ready. If her parents think she’s academically prepared and emotionally mature enough to handle college level instruction, which according to the article is dual credit*, then she likely IS ready.
Dual credit courses are offered to children typically age 15 and up. They are college courses that also count towards an accredited high school diploma. What difference is there legally between 13 and 15? Also, her parents are not sending her away to a school without any support. She will still be living at home, attending a local community college. She’ll also still have her current set of friends.
What about letting a 13yr old be a 13yr old? I’ve known a couple of super achievers and both had some emotional problems later on when everything caught up with them. In one case, she couldn’t deal with not being exceptional during her adult years. She was still smart and successful, but nobody cares about that kind of thing when you are 22. Her entire life, she was told how special she was because she was so smart for her age. Well...the novelty eventually wears off.
I understand the feeling.
What I can’t figure is if this is really representative of what some people are thinking or if they just like to be the odd one out and take that kind of position just for the purpose of stirring the pot, getting their kicks that way.
I think that denying children admission who are perfectly capable of performing in that environment is flat out wrong. The denial of access to public accomodations aspect of this is something that I find especially troubling.
If a 13 year old has taxable income, then I assume that the state would have no moral problem in taxing it. Yet that same 13 year old, if they had both the aptitude and desire, would not be allowed to attend community college? A community college that they were subsidizing through their taxes?
“What makes college as a location any different from say a shopping mall?”
Nothing, except the shopping mall is not likely to be held liable, the college probably is...
It's a community college, where people commute to campus for classes, then go home when they are done for the day. People go to community colleges and other commuter campus colleges to learn, not to sit around and play drinking games with other socially challenged spoiled brats, like on dorm campuses.
I've attended community college, state college, and universities at commuter campuses and through online courses. I've worked with many dorm campus graduates who can't function or communicate beyond the high school level. Of course, there are exceptions, but people are much less likely to waste their educational opportunities when they themselves have to assume the responsibility for the effort and expense of attending.
Dorm campuses are simply an extension of the babysitting services provided by the high schools, without the "adult" supervision. Of course, again, there are exceptions, few of which are currently running the country, any of its major corporations, any of the markets, any of academia; most of which are predominantly run by the least common denominators of university graduates.
Hopefully this will change as more homeschoolers enter the un-real world.
“Her entire life, she was told how special she was because she was so smart for her age. Well...the novelty eventually wears off.”
That was simply bad parenting. If you’re not essentially saying to your kids: “You ain’t Shiite” at least once a week, then your kids will have big problems (and believe me, I live by that and I use the real word when needed). Let them know you love them - but don’t EVER let them think they’re somehow special with respect to others (even if they are).
Given today’s parenting, unfortunately, many highly intelligent kids really do believe that they’re special (i.e., they’ll simply fly to Africa, talk to some kids there, and end all of their civil wars) - which is really a shame.
So, we'll put kids in public high schools where 13 year old junior highers will be hanging around with 19 year old seniors under the *supervision* or whom? Teachers who molest their students?
The very concerns that so many are expressing about a 13 year old facing in college are the very things that those same thirteen year olds will be facing in the average public school.
And they're far less likely to encounter them in college, where there are actually mature adults around.
“I would also say that some homeschooled kids are very naive in many ways. They are smart about academic matters but not street savvy.”
I would have to agree. Home educated children just don’t get the same exposure to putting condoms on cucumbers as government schooled kids. And having intercourse in bathroom stalls? I’ll bet that very few home educated kids have authoritative experience in that. And of course, if you want to expose your kids to drugs and the kinds of crude “socialization” that they won’t see outside of say a prison, government schools simply can’t be beat for teaching those kinds of street smarts.
(/s)
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