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 started hot rodding at 8, drove my first dragster at 12 and never looked back and i’m 72 today.”
Yes, and I’m sure they could convince her to drive a “hotrod” as well...
Who says the “kids” are 18-20? Community colleges are usually heavy on older students, especially the kind who weren’t academically prepared for or interested in college at the usual age. If they want her to start getting exposure to other students who are her academic peers, a local community college is hardly the place to find them.
What’s the rush to get her into college? She should be well-equipped to self-educate by now.
“And that’s different from public high school how?”
I think there are more fights in high school.
Too many adults on campus meaning no adult supervision for the kid.
“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.”
Home schooled students are widely known to have social skills that are more advanced than either private schooled students or public schooled students. One reason is that they deal with people of all ages, in contrast to the age segregated school classrooms.
The reference to post 12 specifically raised the awareness of social and scientific situations by the very young. The last of post 12 was a definitive “smack down, to use your term, by an 11 year old upon reading the publication of an adult biologist - “It is because of people like her that I have to listen to blond jokes.”
Again, I defer to the parents decision. My primary reason for posting was what I perceived as faulty premises on the thread.
In closing, what you responded to was not what I posted. I said nothing about birth control. What I did say was that while sexual offers will be made, by males to females, the female makes the decision.
And, given that males must please females they like, if the student under discussion wishes to be treated in a specific fashion, and from the article I assume that is not to be the “good time had by all”, those wanting her company WILL have to act as she finds acceptable.
Again - Man proposeth, Woman disposeth.
Let the parents and the student make their own decisions.
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.
I went to both a commuter college (in a bigger city) and "on-campus" (in a college town) -- and there is a big difference in the overall living atmosphere, but -- that's not to say that things don't go on right in the middle of the day, and in the dorms, along with the multitude of adjacent apartments that are going to be surrounding the university.
And also, it's not like high school where you are occupied from the beginning of classes to the end of the school day. In college, you may end up with two courses, only for that day, separated by three hours, and ample time to either study together or have rap sessions or goof around. And there will be plenty of that during those down times.
And you're not going to go back and forth from home to campus and back again for a gap of only (let's say), anywhere from one hour to three hours. In fact, sometimes you might have a 9 AM class and then a 3 PM class... and you're going to stay on campus during that time (or ... in someone's apartment or dorm during that time ... :-) ...).
In high school there is much more supervision, while at the university level -- it's pretty much "anything goes" and the professors figure they are not "babysitters" and whatever the students do, it's totally up to them.
Childhood stinks, that’s why I shit canned it!
Sad to say, that's true. But since she's not likely to get into any other college, she'll just have to put up with outperforming them for a while.
It'll be a great boost to her GPA when she aces everything.
That's essentially what she's doing by going to college.
I am not sure why you are “arguing” with me. My point was that the girl was too young, in general, but that it’s her parents’ decision. I agree with you about community college but in today’s economic climate, far, far more CC students are right out of high school. Enrollment has skyrocketed at the community colleges...and they are also teaching large numbers of postsecondary students (i.e., high school kids).
In closing, what you responded to was not what I posted. I said nothing about birth control. What I did say was that while sexual offers will be made, by males to females, the female makes the decision.
AND... in that regard, I think I've read plenty about how girls of less than 18 "cannot" (i.e, "are not able" developmentally) to make those decisions...
So, you say that a 13-14-year old can make the decision, but I believe you'll find a "whole lot of material" to say that it's "impossible" for them to make such a decision ...
Again, I defer to the parents decision. My primary reason for posting was what I perceived as faulty premises on the thread.
Oh yeah... I would agree that it's entirely within the parents' parameters of control for their own children to determine that. And that's fine.
My comment on that is that the parents are "idiots" -- that's all ... LOL ...
And it's like parents who decide that it's okay for their 14, or 15 or 16-year-old daughter to have "sleep-overs" for their older boyfriends, because they have come to the conclusion that their daughters are going to be "doing it" anyway, with their boyfriends, so they would prefer to have the boyfriends and their daughter in their own house, doing it.
And, I guess that's another matter which is totally within the control of the parents, too -- to allow their 14-year-old daughters to have their older boyfriends over for sleep-overs, too.
They're the parents and they get to decide those things for their daughters, and not the "state" or the "universities" for sure (even if I think they're idiots ... LOL ...).
Odd! I remember in college we had a little fellow in the computer lab who couldn’t have been more than 14. He went by the user name Poindexter.
The reason that she would not be *age appropriate* in social skills, is that her social development has not been retarded by incarcerating her in the local public school. Any public school teen her age would NOT have the social skills to deal with older kids because they've never been taught it like homeschooler have been.
The whole idea that homeschoolers are not socially aware or savvy is a myth (or lie, really) perpetuated by the public school establishment in their last ditch effort to find SOMETHING to criticize about homeschool students. And even then, they've never been able to demonstrate it to be true.
Homeschool students, by and large, are far more competent socially, no matter what the situation, than public school advocates want to or like to admit.
I'd lay money on the fact that this girl knows how to deal with any situation she'll be facing. Homeschoolers, also tend to not be shrinking violets about what they believe and where they stand. She'll either speak her piece or if all else fails, walk away from it.
They think that learning to deal with real life is to be kept in holding pens with textbooks, pitted in competition with people exactly their own age while waiting for someone else to tell them what to do. That undercuts their credibility.
You make a credible point. However, I’m of the view that the public school system is bad for a young person’s psyche. In fact, it retards maturity and artificially prolongs childhood, leaving them so isolated from the content of real life, many are at a loss as of what to do when they’re finally released from school.
Well, I think I can offer an inside look. I am a college student in my 50s. While I have had students of all ages in my classes, if I had to give a breakdown of ages, I would say that (at least for me) in the average class of 35 students, there would be: 25 students who are around 19-23 y.o., 5 students b/t age 24-28; and 5 students age 29 and up, with probably only 1 or 2 students in their late 30s or over. Most really are in that first grouping, with another concentration in the middle grouping (24-28).
As for behavior, it is as individual as the kids. I’ve had kids not show up for class, come in hung over, and act like little babies, but there are lots of great kids - thoughtful and very focused.
The one point you made that I could wholeheartedly agree with is that you cannot tell the high school kids necessarily. I had a young man in my World Lit class last semester and I was shocked when I found out he was a junior in high school. A smart, cool kid all the way around. Of course, I can guarantee you the younger kids would definitely recognize a 13 year old.
And it's like parents who decide that it's okay for their 14, or 15 or 16-year-old daughter to have "sleep-overs" for their older boyfriends, because they have come to the conclusion that their daughters are going to be "doing it" anyway, with their boyfriends, so they would prefer to have the boyfriends and their daughter in their own house, doing it.
You're equating sending a 13 year old homeschool student to a community college to ake vollege courses to inviting her boyfriend over for a sleepover because they're already likely having sex?
The parents aren't the idiots here.
You are.
A lot of these people end up emotionally stunted though. They often have high intellectual IQs and low emotional IQs. The reality is that emotional IQ is often more important for real success in this world.
Oh, dear, you are so underestimating the nonsense that commuters can create.
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