Another Kid in College

This morning's Bee reported on yet another gifted kid whose parents are taking him to college classes. He's 7. What are his parents thinking? He may be really, really smart, but he's still 7, and he should be doing the stuff that 7-year-old kids do. And the parents should know that kids who are sent off to college at 7 or 10 or 12 don't do well in later life. They aren't allowed to develop the social and emotional skills appropriate to their age.

I speak with a bit of experience. My parents were encouraged to put me in a special program that skipped a bunch of kids together. So I went to 7th grade at 11. Hey, parents want to hear that their kid is one of the smartest kids around. But luckily, they learned their lesson and when the school approached my parents about doing the same thing to my brother, they passed.

I've always told the teachers I know that, should they come across a parent who wants to skip their kid, I'd do my best to talk them out of it. And I suspect that's true of everyone who ever skipped a year of school.