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.
I went to college with a 12 year old. I believe he became the youngest to earn his Law Degree. He was in my physics class and would correct the professor sometimes..
That's not the experience my friend's son had.
The other students either somewhat ignored him or were very interested in why he was there at such a young age.
It would be "smack-down-time" for a kid like that ...
Projecting are you?
You don't give college aged kids enough credit. Sure, SOME are immature, but by that age, any kid who's off to college isn't going to act like a junior higher any more.
Besides, if the kid looks older for their age, nobody is really going to notice.
It isn't age so much as attitude. If the 13 year old comes across as a know it all, yeah, they can expect problems, just as any know it all of any age would.
My statement stands on its merits.
Consider that she is at least as bright as the other students, and therefore is a desired study partner. Students do choose whom they study with.
Given that college is also a social experience, adn that teh girl seems to probably be considered attractive, those wanting social time on whatever basis will have to meet her standards.
It is perhaps wise to remember that Man proposes, but Woman DISPOSES.
In other words, they ask, she decides.
If her parents are comfortable with that, who are we to second guess them?
As for the 13 year old being unable to retain a sense of self worth, may I suggest http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2524296/posts?
Go to post #7, which led to post # 12. The response of another FReeper is indicative.
I'd bet this girl could out perform your average public school graduate in her sleep.
I'm sure fact-wise, and grade-wise, she would be excellent. But, put that 13-14-year-old in college and those 18-24-year-olds will beat her down socially, to such a degree, that she won't know which end is up ... guaranteed...
I'm sure some will relish the idea of "discussing" some of the free-sex ideas that they have with her, too ... if for no oher reason than to put her on the spot and make fun of her and to show her how "out of their league" she is.
I remember some of those conversations and discussions from college and that was a long time back, and now it's much worse. This little girl would be thrown straight into the middle of something that she's not even prepared to contemplate or even think about right now. And if I know the kind of thinking that will go on there -- if it's detected that there's some reluctance to discuss some of these things, then she'll be hammered with it all the more. They'll provoke her just to get a reaction from her. If she tries to "go along" -- they'll push it to extremes, to make her feel totally out of place (and much more than that...).
I won't go into any details here, but it would be totally devastating to her socially....
They’ve decided 13 was too young to sexually/politically re-engineer
You know, that is such a public school mentality that it's ridiculous. Since when is life supposed to be so segregated? The only place it is, is IN the public school system and it's done nothing but produce a bunch of socially inept misfits.
Do you spend every day locked in a room with other people exactly your own age?
Should we say that you have no business hanging out with people 5-6 years older than you?
Homeschoolers socialization skills are light years ahead of your average public school kid. THEY know how to interact with people who are not their same age.
Besides, taking college courses is NOT *hanging out* with 18 and 19 year olds.
I think he means sitting in a dorm room drinking, smoking pot, and having casual sex. Thats some peoples image of college.
“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...”
Starting when I was 8 all my friends, to this day, are 8 to 10 years older than I am.
I started hot rodding at 8, drove my first dragster at 12 and never looked back and i’m 72 today.
What I find incredibly ironic in this whole thread, is that homeschoolers are so commonly criticized for over protecting their kids.
Then there are so many people here on this thread who are criticizing homeschoolers for ........not protecting their kids enough.
They’re insisting that they need to be protected because someone who never met the kids has determined that homeschooled kids are not ready socially for dealing with *real* life.
Can’t win as a homeschooler, can we?
Given that college is also a social experience, adn that teh girl seems to probably be considered attractive, those wanting social time on whatever basis will have to meet her standards.
If her parents were to let her go to college at that age, they sure better not be letting her live on campus, or "it's all over" at that point for her... I would say.
The other option is to go to college and commute, and if that's what they do, they had better keep really close track of her, and make sure they pick her up right when her classes are over and make sure she doesn't have any spare time on campus.
I went to a commuter college and one where everyone was on campus. But, the commuter college had enough student housing that was right there, so that anyone could go over to anyone else's apartment or "dorm" (but mostly apts.) in between classes... and a lot of things can happen real easily in between two classes ... with no problem ...
A girl like that who is super-smart in studies, but is "age-appropriate" in social skills (and I see no reason why she would not be age-appropriate in social skills) will be easily manipulated by those with much greater skills than she has. She'll be taken advantage of many times in that kind of environment, very easily.
She'll want to "fit in" because she's going to be so out-of-place, agewise, and there will be plenty of those who will take advantage of her, that way.
The parents might as well throw their kid to the lions as anything ... :-)
Go to post #7, which led to post # 12. The response of another FReeper is indicative.
I'm not sure what the breeding proclivities of a bunch of wolves has to do with this 13-year-old girl, other than a bunch of "wolves" being in college around her ... :-)
Of course, if I were her parents and I sent her off to a college environment, I would make sure she was on birth control (perhaps that's what you're talking about; I'm not sure ...).
My older son had to interview with the Dean to take a community college biology course when he was 14. The Dean was quite impressed :)
He wasn’t supposed to get dual-enrollment credit as he was under 16, but VCU later accepted the credits without question.
You sure have a pretty low opinion of most college age students.
It’s too bad you don’t know any better quality kids than that.
My kids are in college now and I’ve met many of their friends and dorm mates and room mates and not one of them would be like that.
College is a world of difference from high school and junior high, which is really the kind of behavior that you are describing.
College age students have better things to do with their time than beat down on a 13 or 14 year old classmate. They are not the immature, junior high level thinking anti-social snots that you expect them to be.
As I figured, you are projecting. If that’s the kind of person you were and the kind of people you hung out with, of course you’re going to expect everyone else to act like that. Problem is, generally they don’t. Not everyone behaves like you and your friends did.
A thirteen year old is going to be commuting.
I commuted when I went to college and I heard all kinds of stories about what went on in dorm life, (not during class time mind you) and I certainly believe them. But commuters are very removed from that.
As a commuter, you don’t have to get involved with anything you don’t want to and I’d lay money on the fact that this girl is not going to be spending her evenings in the dorms drinking, smoking pot and having casual sex.
And that's different from public high school how?
Overall I agree, but I think it totally depends on the kid.
Another important point that has (sort of) been made is if the kid is a commuter and not living on campus, that will eliminate a lot of the crap. There’s a reason some community colleges have a feel like it is “13th grade” for some.
That said, the whining about a bureaucracy saying no is an invalid argument. If someone doesn’t want to be rejected by a bureaucracy, don’t apply to one. It’s pretty simple.
That's not the experience my friend's son had.
I would say that you're going to have a different result for a boy than you are for a girl. And when I was in college, it wasn't the freshman boys who were given warnings and told how to be careful about social situations -- it was the incoming freshman girls who were "taken aside" by the college and given some "warmings" and "instruction" ... so yes, it's going to be different for a girl than a boy.
Projecting are you?
I didn't create the college culture, but I did have to live in it and be aware of it ...
You don't give college aged kids enough credit. Sure, SOME are immature, but by that age, any kid who's off to college isn't going to act like a junior higher any more.
I remember what it was like being a junior-higher, and also a high-schooler, and then also a college student -- both at a commuter college and then "on-campus". And no, I don't give any junior-higher credit for being a "college-aged kid" in social-adaptation ... not at all ... :-)
Besides, if the kid looks older for their age, nobody is really going to notice.
Until she opens her mouth and begins to yap and talk about things, other than "course material" ... LOL ...
The boys are going to be "taking notice" too ... I'm sure...
A lot of colleges will accept students this age, but a public community college is basically a big public high school. What’s the point of homeschooling the girl and then dumping her into that atmosphere at 13? It would make more sense to enroll her in the local public high school for a bunch of AP courses, if she’s really ready for that. At least it would be an environment geared toward the 13-18 set, and AP courses are generally at a higher level than most of what’s offered at community college.
“Your opinion has been proven wrong time and time and time and time again...”
Yes, and it has also been proven right as many times...
The bottom line is that the school is not willing to be responsible for the little girl. Can’t blame them. It could work out fine, and then it may not...
I was hoping that you wouldn’t take that comment as a criticism of your post because I realize that you weren’t being hypocritical in your comment.
The thought just struck me when I read your post.
Most homeschool students are well enough aware of what’s going on in the world and are pretty savvy socially. The image that so many put forth of the homeschooler being some wide eyed, innocent, naive little Pollyanna, simply isn’t true for the vast majority of the cases.
They have plenty of experience in dealing with culture and society. They have friends outside the home who go to public schools, they likely have family members who are not homeschooled, they watch TV, go to movies, read the newspaper, go shopping, go to sporting events, etc.
It’s not like these parents are sending some cloistered little girl raised in an orphanage by nuns out into Sodom, or something.
Nobody here knows the family life of this girl and how prepared she is to deal with college classes. That’s the parents decision to make and I’m sure, (speaking as a homeschool parent myself) that they thought all this through and investigated it thoroughly themselves.
They are not stupid or ignorant of what is out there either, or else they wouldn’t be homeschooling.
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