Posted on 06/09/2021 1:30:20 AM PDT by blueplum
One gifted 12-year-old is way ahead of the game when it comes to schooling.
Mike Wimmer, from Salisbury, North Carolina, graduated from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College on May 21 with a 4.0 GPA and an associate degree. A week later, he graduated from Concord Academy High School with a 5.45 GPA as valedictorian....
...Mike describes himself as a well-rounded person with an interest in all subjects, though he's always leaned more toward STEM fields. He calls himself the "math and science guy."
"Technology in particular I like because it's limitless, and I can do whatever I want to with it," he said.
At age 7, Mike created his first business venture, Next Era Innovations. He was able to build applications for the popular NAO robot, such as the NAO Microphone and NAO Health Companion.
Most of his knowledge of programming and robotics he learned on his own through trial and error and online videos....
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I could’ve been a contender.
Our kids are far more capable than we give them credit for. Probably 95% of kids could graduate high school by the time they were 14, if properly taught.
We must learn language, without which we are no better than baboons.
The lazy language evident all OVER the net (and way too much here in FR) is evidence to me the public school system is designed to weaken and break the American "can do" spirit.
Mike learned to read and THEN was given material that systematically brought him to where knowledge was a fun toy.
As High School is now less than what eighth grade once was, that stands to reason.
There are habits/virtues that people used to develop that allowed this. Inculcating these is important.
I’m aware that standards have fallen, but I stand by my statement. Even if the standards had been kept to 1950’s standards,a properly educated and motivated person could have graduated by the time he was 14.
I sure hope the young man develops a thickened skin because there will no doubt be the occasional adult with an implicit bias against high-IQ individuals, especially when it’s a 12 year-old boy with a healthy skepticism.
I was thinking more of the 1920’s standards. Al Smith governed NY and ran for President on a grade 8 education.
The more education became universal at higher levels, the more expectations were modified. 4th grade used to guarantee a certain facility in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
The language entrance exams for Universities used to be quite rigorous. I doubt that there are a half-dozen high school graduates in the U.S. that could pass Cornell’s entrance examinations of the 1890’s. The combination of breadth and depth expected was phenomenal.
You can pick any standard you want and I believe that my point still applies. It takes a surprising little amount of work, if consistently done, to master material by the grade, for somebody,like this 13 year old, as long as that person treats it like a full time job.
I also agree that it was a mistake to make the assurance of graduating high school mandatory. Those unable to graduate should be trained in skilled labour if they cannot master a rigorous high school agenda. It has harmed us all.
If you an extra 15 minutes/day, that’s about an extra grade of material every 6 years, approximately.
5.45 GPA?
If you an extra 15 minutes/day, that’s about an extra grade of material every 6 years, approximately.
Believe me, I wish I had understood that at his age.
Probably is using this scale. It is basically an A-, if he’s doing level 5.
https://olla.org/academics/gpa-table/
Academia today is more focused on money and less on education.
Yes, at least something like that. AP of course is really not that advanced, it is just that the rest of our educational standards have fallen off a cliff.
Correct. They now purposely misteach both reading and writing so as to set average and below average students back hideously.
It is in part to dumb down our citizenry and in part to keep with the old union phrase of not “killing the job”.
K-12 is a waste of life> been there...
Congrats... My 11 year old found something he likes - Naval architecture. Getting some used textbooks for him.
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