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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31957 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022

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graduated high school at 11

It feels like the average IQ 130 person could master the necessary course work at age 11. This says more about their parents then anything.

Maybe, but it's also a matter of having the drive to actually do that, which is the rarer thing because it goes against basically all incentive.

I was on track to do something similar in schooling and then I sort of figured out "hang on, all this time the reward for working hard, excelling and finishing tasks early has just been more work" and that I wouldn't be, say, set free to do as I pleased, I would just be given more expectations to meet. So I thought instead I could just coast and do nothing but dick around and do what I want for a couple years until the work required actually caught up with my ability level.

And I still defend that as the obvious choice. If you want the smart kids to excel, you have to actually reward them by giving them something they actually want for doing it. If they finish your worksheet that was supposed to take 45 minutes in 15, don't just hand them another worksheet, all you're teaching them that higher ability just means you're expected to do more and they will stop trying because of it.

"To whom much is given, much will be expected" - Luke 12:47-48

"The one accusation we feared was to be suspected of ability. Ability was like a mortgage on you that you could never pay off." - Atlas Shrugged

If they finish your worksheet that was supposed to take 45 minutes in 15, don't just hand them another worksheet, all you're teaching them that higher ability just means you're expected to do more and they will stop trying because of it.

Sounds like a valuable lesson, the one incorporated in the adage "The reward for a job well-done is a harder job".

I certainly couldn't, I just wasn't developed enough at that age. I don't think I was a uniquely late bloomer among the gifted kids either.

Graduating HS at 11 is impressive regardless of support (unless there is cheating), imo. It might also say more about how quickly someone developed than how intelligent they are..

Maybe, but still quite impressive. Even high-IQ Asian kids plus 'tiger mom' parenting seldom gets those kind of outcomes. This is closer to Terrance Tao levels of preciousness, than just 130 IQ plus aggressive parenting.

Probably most parents sensibly recognize that this would be terrible for a child's development.

It's also nowhere close to Tao levels. Tao scored a 760 on the SAT at age 8. So figure he probably could have gotten the score of a typical high school graduate at age 6 or something.

It's possible Mr. Farrow scored almost as well, maybe at age 10. still way better than your typical 130 IQ smart kid.

If so, I agree. If.

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