Hemorrhage,
My oldest homeschooler finished all college general courses and Calculus III by the age of 15. He then enrolled in business administration program at private college.
During his first semester he attended the private college's “jobs fair”. The next day he received a **serious** offer for an entry level management position with a local bank. I believe that, if he had taken that offer, he would have done **well**....even at the age of 15.
The point is that my son is **not** unusual. He is **not** a genius. He **normally** bright. He is **normal**. It is the institutionalized child who is being artificially retarded in their social, academic, and career development.
There are children by the millions stuck in government schools who are just as bright and similarly talented as my son,..but...these institutionalized children are artificially held back merely to serve as widgets in providing jobs to government employees in the education-industrial-complex.
You honestly expect us to believe that your son received an offer to work at a bank at age 15. I was born at night , but not last night.
That is your personal opinion. It is not a fact.
My oldest niece was inline to be promoted to store manager of the retail shop where she worked, until the home office realized she was only 16 and they could not, by law, place her in that position.
My niece attended public school. She also had her HS diploma 2 weeks after her 16th b'day, a BS by 20 (she took off 2 years to earn money for school) and her master's at 23.
My personal experiences are just as valid as yours.
BTW, we moved from Delaware to Virginia because the schools in Delaware are, for the most part, sub par. Yet my niece seemed to make out quite well, as did her younger sister who is getting married next week.
>> There are children by the millions stuck in government schools who are just as bright and similarly talented as my son,..but...these institutionalized children are artificially held back merely to serve as widgets in providing jobs to government employees in the education-industrial-complex.
Congratulations to you and your child. Impressive. Nonetheless, home-school parents tend to think that their way is the only way to a quality education. It isn’t. I am a product of public education, and am relatively successful, well educated, and well adjusted. I graduated public school only 11 years ago — so this isn’t as if I grew up in the 50’s.
Like home-schools, public school can be a mixed bag ... there are bad schools, and good ones. Generally, the schools are as bad or as good as the parents demand. In low income areas, they tend to suck because parents tend not to care — i. e. they are uninvolved. Because the parents are uninvolved, the kids are poorly civilized, and good teachers won’t teach in a war-zone. Parental involvement necessarily leads to better behaved students, which leads to better teachers, which leads to better educated students.
However, there are public schools with involved parents, good teachers, and exceptionally well educated and well behaved children. For instance, the schools in suburban Houston are quite good.
Home-schools can be bad as well. I’ve heard of home-schools where the parents were hippies and took their kids out of public school because it was indoctrinating their kids with authoritarianism and imperialism. The school was set up as some kind of commune ... and the kids were dumb as bricks.
Ultimately, its all about parenting.
H
We probably all know students who acted up in school and did not do the work because they were not sufficiently challenged. The question in this case is simply why the student in the article wanted to pass math? Did she need it for graduation? You have adequately showed that some people do not need the certificate to do what they wish.
My only concern is that many people at the age of 14 - 16 (and older if the truth be told) simply have not decided what it is they want to do. Many are still waiting for that job or class to inspire them. I also know some who knew exactly what they wanted to do only to do it and find that the job was not what they expected.
So the message that should be drawn is to do your best in school, try to find and take the good teachers, and pass the math even if you don’t like it. (I teach math and science).