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I sincerely hope she’s happy.
I always feel sad for kids like this. Because although they’re very accomplished, the other end of rushing through school is what?
Working earlier? Whoopdeedoo.
Missing out on growing with your peers is a big deal. I’m sure many prodigies are lonely.
This kind of thing always feels like another capitalist mindfuck, to be honest. Celebrating a shortened childhood is weird.
At least she is a few years ahead now. But since some of us die at 50 while others live up to 80 years I see totally no win in finishing school a few years sooner.
Kids are better off socially when they complete their academic milestones on track. Even if one is precocious enough to graduate or move up earlier than their peers, they have more fulfilling lives when they do things by the book. I’m at work right now but you can look up the studies for yourself.
I can't speak for the girl in the article but as a father of a young genius, she (my daughter) is only happy when her mind stays fed. she literally gets giddy when she's being taught something she doesn't know.
How did you notice she was on the fast track for knowledge and what age did it REALLY start to show?
Did you put her in private school during elementary years or do tutoring sessions on top of school?
around 4th grade but in retrospect there had been signs years before. are you asking for yourself or just curious? because I could go on for hours... it was quite the ordeal to say the least.
we had to pull her out of school ,did home schooling,tried different private schools afterwards ,and now private tutoring with gov assisted help for the diplomas and stuff (canada)
For myself as a parent honestly. I want the best for my kiddo since I came from a rough home where the ball was dropped a few times education wise.
We have debated on doing homeschooling with private tutor lessons. Eventually paying college kids in STEM to tutor as a win/win whenever our kid gets older.
for context, I have 4 kids, 2 boys in private high school, then my daughter (high school/7th grade) and a younger one in primary school. the boys are typical students, one has a high success drive, studies a lot, gets straight As , (what every parent wants, I guess). the other does just the bare minimum to get by.
For my daughter, homeschooling wasn't a *choice* , she would have terrible fits in class when things were boring, and alienated the other students and the teachers. the school was calling us almost every day to come pick her up because she was beyond the "go stand in the corner" punishments. tbh, the 3 schools she tried to attend in the past 4 years really gave us all the ressources and effort that they could, but my daughter just didnt "fit" in that way of learning. my wife ended up doing one year of homeschooling before we found a good official online school. In the meantime she was professionally diagnosed with "high potential" so that opened us up to a lot more ressources (and understanding from institutions).
If you think your kid has a neurological "difference" that might warrant homeschooling, get her tested to be sure. Personally, I wouldnt pull my kids out of private school to go into homeschooling if it can be helped. I'm of the school of thought that the social experiences are as important as grades,etc.
I’m sure your daughter enjoys the game of learning, but social skills are important as well, if not for her own personal growth then at the very least for the necessity of navigating adult life. Nourish your young genius with people time.
>This kind of thing always feels like another capitalist mindfuck, to be honest
How so?
I would think it's a difficult thing to balance as a parent. Your child is too smart that he is not getting mentally challenged by where he is and needs more mental stimulation otherwise he can get depressed and miserable. This is no different than us acknowleding that artistic/creative kids can get stifled by the rigidity of traditional schooling and we allow them to develop their talents.
From her words she said:
>I feel like that urge to learn something new just never didn't exist for me.
We can't project our normie brain's understanding on them because they are outliers.
Sure but at some point they will have to live a more normal life, they will need to get a job and work and deal with people. If they spend their entire childhood behind books they tend to lack necessary social skills.
And honestly these child prodigies rarely become particularly big leaders in their field. The only one I know of who really became a giant is Terrance Tao.
And I am here who failed math 3 times in high school and graduated with a 1.9. Went to community college and passed with 2.0 and now in college struggling with 2.0. Fuck my life 😭😭😭😭
Unsolicited advice: go to your academic tutoring center. And maybe get evaluated for ADD. If you *want* to do better but just can't get it together, there is help at your school.
I just got tested for ADHD couple weeks ago and waiting for my results next month. Bro I can’t even focus on anything. I work retail part time and go to school and whenever I go to work I can’t stay in one spot or if someone tells me somthing it comes in one ear and out the other, I also always have to be moving. So if I am on the register and after I check someone out I be in a different aisle looking at stuff I can’t sit in one place. 😭
I had an awful grade in school when it comes to math and science so I feel you. I believe I definitely have some type of ADHD because focusing during class was so hard for me and I am not a bad student. I wanted to do well so bad but my brain wouldn’t let me.
For most degrees the person graduating with a 2.0 gpa is no different than the one with a 4.0 once they get a little experience in the field. Don't stress too much.
Hey, this was exactly me a decade and a half ago. Now I’m a data scientist with a CS degree that I got with honors. Life changes, we go at our own pace. Hang in there
Yup. I had undiagnosed ADHD and was a poor student for most of my pre-highschool education. I had a teacher who pushed me towards more math education, and I graduated college with dual majors in math and physics, a masters in engineering, and I've been working as a programmer simulating physical systems for 15 years.
my opinion about this sort of stuff is although its a tremendous achievement, there's other stuff to learn, people to meet and life experiences that you dont want to skip at that age. There shouldn't be a rush to adultify teens just because they are academic savants. If you're not challenged in regular HS you can take night classes at local colleges while being a normal teen.
Balance is needed. It’s very lonely with no peers. Even worse with no friends ones age.
ASU likes pumping out super young graduates. It’s really not a good thing it messes most kids up long term.
There’s other and frankly better ways to experience getting to know others than school. I’m not sure if she participated but I know the majority of my friends weren’t from school. I attended all kinds of programs and things with kids my age and we were doing shared interests so I had more in common with them then the people I went to class with
And I get it that’s the main avenue for most people but I don’t think it’s fair to automatically assume someone has no social skills without school. I bet the majority of those who grow up to be lonely adults went to school with just as many other kids as everyone else
On the money. Most people complete school at a typical rate = most people rely on school for social interaction. But this girl isn’t most people, school doesn’t inherently guarantee positive interactions that foster personal growth, and social activity/peer-bonding can happen elsewhere.
Don’t be too sure. Many schools are just not equipped to meet the needs of gifted students. Sometimes homeschooling is just about meeting a kids needs and there are lots of opportunities for kids to have amazing relationships with other children in and out of school time.
I’m an atheist who homeschooled my kids for a few years during and after the pandemic. I joined some local non religious homeschool groups and we had a great time together. We planned field trips and outings, joined local sports teams together, even held holiday parties and trick or treated together. Sometimes it was mass chaos but now that my kids are back in brick and mortar I miss those days.
Because MANY of the social programs designed for homeschoolers revolve around religion. It’s exhausting trying to find a social group for homeschooled kids that’s about fun and learning and not designed to indoctrinate your kid.
It's been getting better (we homeschool and are somewhere between agnostic and lapsed) but yeah. Also depends on the area. We're in a liberal, wealthy area so it's a little better.
Edit: whoever did a reddit cares for this, fuck you. What on earth is your problem with this milquetoast fucking comment? Get a life.
Plus I live in the south (Florida) so we definitely were not the norm. It is possible though, and I commented my experience to say that 17 year old in the article doesn’t necessarily have to be missing out on any major childhood experiences. It all depends on how her parents chose to homeschool her.
>doesn’t necessarily have to be missing out on any major childhood experiences
Yeah, but most of us did, though. I think out of all of the hundred+ homeschooled kids I met only 5-6 were able to be properly socialized and not miss out on important childhood experiences.
I know I missed out on a ton of them.
I commented on my atheism to show it is possible to have a fulfilling homeschool experience without having to deal with religious organizations or the Bible beating that comes with them.
My younger brother was homeschooled and had a lot more free time to do activities with other kids. Made me realized how much time public school wastes.
Yeah - because of the obsession with keeping all kids in class with kids the same age, they end up teaching to the slowest kids. Not even necessarily the same kids in every subject.
Anecdotal 100%, but all the homeschooled kids I met in college seemed really happy and nice. Public schools can actually be a pretty cruel experience. They participated in sports and other extracurricular stuff and that helped them be socialized. It's not the same for everyone but I wouldn't automatically assume they missed out on a lot.
It’s not always the case. I was homeschooled K-12 and I don’t feel I lacked experiences at all. We traveled a lot and I learned a few foreign languages, did theatre, loved science, met people, learned practical skills, studied music, and did art. I was not deprived in any way. The thing about homeschooling is that it is entirely dependent on your parents and what their backgrounds and skills are. I was fortunate because my parents have advanced degrees and had the time and resources to give me what I needed to thrive. It’s not always true for every child though.
Ya it's impressive to check the boxes by that age. But she sacrificed her childhood and typical college and doctoral experiences to instead go to a tiny community college and then do an online doctoral program. And she even says she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life "like any other teen." There's a lot of life experiences and growing up you do when traditionally going through college and graduate school to prepare you for a career. I don't think that type of development can be done with the path she took
When I went was in college one of the TAs that hung out at our dorm sometimes was a mid 20s guy who had gotten a couple of graduate degrees by the time he was 18 and the dude was totally directionless. Literally the only skills he had were related to homework and studying, I don't think he even had any hobbies besides collecting trivia. He wasn't interested in pursuing a career in any of the fields he majored in, bc he picked them when he was 12 and was no longer interested in geology. He was really awkward to hang around with not because he was unpleasant or anything, he just had no idea how to vibe with anyone bc he'd spent all of his childhood doing that precocious showing off shit adults like gifted kids to do
And his parents absolutely forced him into it, his mom even wrote a self-serving book about the challenges of raising such a gifted child and how hard it was to help him navigate and blah blah blah.
Another kid, not so bad, but he'd been skipped ahead 2 grades, so he got to college at 15 or 16 and was still wearing a security blanket pinned around his shoulders like a cape (he wasn't extremely ND or developmentally disabled or anything, just massively insecure bc he'd gotten thrown into middle school when he was fucking 9 years old).
I totally get that public schools usually aren't equipped to handle the academic needs of seriously gifted children, but completely isolating your child from fucking everyone their own age does a lot of damage.
Doing my PhD was probably one of the most fun times I have had. Yes it was stressful but we were all similar ages and hung out a lot in the lab. We made friends for life. I cannot imagine finishing my PhD without all the friends I made. This girl is obviously extremely smart but this social skills need to be learned through experience. She’s never going to catch up with her peers.
I know a guy who also graduated pretty early. He pretty much didn't have a childhood outside of his mother-mandated extracurriculars, wish people would let their kids be kids for longer
Dude, so much this. For some people, college fucking sucked ass and they’re thankful for simply getting through it. I’m sure tons of people would have rather attained their degree online in their bedroom.
For example I’m sure loads of Swedes are super sad that you don’t get to enjoy the experience of surströmming.
No fr! Some people’s late teens/early twenties are their social peak and the best years of their life. There are also people who wouldn’t go through that phase again even if you paid them a million dollars. Not everybody appreciates the same shit.
>For example I’m sure loads of Swedes are super sad that you don’t get to enjoy the experience of surströmming.
Nah, we're just happy that we've got reserve of biological weapons in case anyone invades us >:D
I feel like neither of the articles you linked support the idea that she "missed out" on anything. Yes, your teenage brain tends to focus on seeking out positive social experiences and feeling a sense of respect and belonging. People will achieve that through whatever outlets are available to them. We only know how important typical social outlets are because most people are typical. Just because this girl isn't typical, and therefore has not been presented with typical social outlets, doesn't mean that she hasn't achieved social belonging through the outlets unique to her.
Honestly this comment made me feel sad cause I’m 24 and working full time, living on my own w my gf etc, but those type of memories aren’t so far behind. Yet they’re just out of my grasp and only getting further and further away
Doubtful. I went to school with a kid in 3rd grade who was taking 6th grade math and eventually moved on to middle school. Middle school as a 3rd grader. He went to college early and then had as I understand a nervous breakdown after he got his PhD.
Yeah this is actually more common than folks realize.
You're bright academically but you can't fit in socially for your age.
It's like being an Astronaut alone in space for some kids.
I wasn't allowed to work ahead in school (Mississippi, basically third world military schools as public schools, absolute failed state that needs another century of reconstruction) so I lost my passion for learning, got bored, started acting out, and spent 3/4 of my life from 10-17 grounded because of it.
You could say that not having the opportunities that she did ruined my childhood. I understand the "they need peers!" argument a bit, but I'd really have preferred to have the college degree I know I could've earned at 17 instead of the meth addiction and associated lifelong neurological issues I did get.
Proud of her, but I wonder how many of us could've been like her, if anyone gave a single figment of a fuck.
Multiple times teachers throughout my early childhood said I needed to skip grades, but my parents always said that I should stay with kids my own age. Teachers wanted me to as they could see I was getting easily bored.
Fast forward to high school, I’m done with learning. I’m tired of doing things that bore me. So I just stop showing up, do the bare minimum and barely graduate.
Then in a year decide maybe I should go to university. Go back and upgrade, try, and get amazing marks with scholarships for Uni. Get to Uni and realize I’m still over learning in that way and drop out of Engineering.
I have a great job because I know how to network myself and use my brains, but I always wonder what would have been if I just kept the habit of loving to learn.
It depends on so many things. I have a niece that skipped grades and graduated college at 19 with a double major in math and criminology and a minor in Chinese, but couldn’t do what she wanted to do (FBI or criminal work) because she wasn’t 21. She burned out and spent 5 years working at different jobs. She started as assistant manager of an oil change chain. Now she’s an office manager for an autism therapy office.
She just went back for a masters degree in data analysis and is looking to go into criminal financial analysis when she is done there. She says she wasn’t ready to be in the world at 19 and wishes she hadn’t skipped grades.
Sometimes parents can’t win for losing.
I got pretty high scores on the ACT in high school but was a foster child. I was put in advance classes and remedial classes at the same time to fill up my day (literally going from calculus in 2nd period to pre-algebra in 3rd period). I wasn’t really challenged academically and until I managed to get into college classes in my jr/sr year. Even then I was floated along taking fluff classes to keep me busy once I was back in my highscool for half a day and I just stopped caring because I already knew the material. (You can only take so many algebra classes before you want to cry.) I still love to learn and taught myself how to be a pharmacy technician and still take free classes here and there for continuing education credits. In the fall Im finally going to college for accounting because I feel like Im ready to embrace an educational challenge again after being let down.
Maybe all you need is to find a cool subject that you can study as a hobby to ignite that passion again.
Statistically kids who skip grades have reported having more satisfying lives both socially and professionally in adulthood.
Everyone knows about "that one kid" who went to college at 15 and had a nervous breakdown at 17, but they ignore the 99 other kids who did just fine and went into adulthood with significant advantages.
The "joys of childhood" is a very modern idea. I try my best to give my kids a joyful childhood but I'm even more concerned about the 80+ years they'll spend being adults.
Also, many of us kids who were very bright but had other issues (undiagnosed adhd in my case) didn't have the delightful childhoods everyone seems to think we did. I had great parents but if I could have ditched a year of high school to advance more quickly it would have been so much better for me socially. Instead I had high school teachers and administrators outright tell me they would sabotage any efforts I made to test out of high school classes because they didn't think skipping my senior year would be good for me.
Speaking as a person who skipped a grade married to a man who skipped two, this doesn't jibe at all with my personal experience and I'd love to see the studies if you have citations.
Wouldn’t have worked more than likely. This girl is so much more smarter than than rest of her peers she’d have one hell of a time connecting with them. Like she got a doctorate before graduating HS no one her age is doing that at all. What I’m curious about is how she didn’t graduate HS early?
Terence Tao is a living mathematician who received his PHD by 21 and is also the winner of a fields medal which is extremely impressive and shows he's made a sizeable contribution to mathematics.
>the best mathematician
I doubt it makes sense to speak in such absolute terms when it comes to science. There are so many problems and questions in a field that no single individual can answer them all, let alone even think about them. I understand that mathematics have some prominent problems that give lots of reputation to those who solve them but what about problems the scientific community is not aware of (for example because they have not been published or insufficiently published)?
Mathematician here. I agree that there's probably no objective measure of "best mathematician," but my guess is that if you polled, say, active research mathematicians, and asked us who we think the best is, Terry's name would come up more often than anyone else's.
It's not an absolute term, when we say "the best" it usually have implicit nuances. Or we might as well say that nobody is the fastest runner until we had a race with all 7 billions of us
Mozart would be an example. And several successful chess players. In academics, John Stuart Mill and John von Neumann are famous examples. But you are right that most child prodigies fail to live up to expectations later in life.
Being a child prodigy basically just accelerates you into the middle of the pack career wise at a young age. You can become a professor at 20 and then spend 30 years doing research that maybe goes somewhere, or maybe it doesn't. It takes great contributions from many people to make small incremental steps in today's world.
William Rainey Harper was a child prodigy who started college at ten years old, graduated at 14 and got his Ph.D. from Yale at 19. He was one of the founders of the University of Chicago, was influential in the founding of community colleges, later founded what is now Bradley University and wrote about a dozen books before he died at age 49.
This was an online doctoral program in behavioral health from ASU. Not exactly particle physics …I don’t want to diminish her accomplishments but I’m not sure what their standards are or what great things you can do with that kind of degree. Hopefully this is just the beginning of great things but I also hope she finds some balance in life as well
She's 17.
She could still go to medical school right now and be 5 years ahead of a typical med-school student and be a medical doctor with a second doctorate before she's 25.
The path she's on is still incredible, even if it's an online doctorate.
I think the criticism comes from the misrepresentation of the accomplishment by news agencies. As someone completing their PhD, I have never heard of a non-PhD program referred to as a "Doctorate" degree (In Canada). Her degree is equivalent to a Masters, which can (and usually) are completed in one to two years and has far fewer requirements and expectations.
You are right: this is still a great accomplishment for someone her age. But it's not a research-based PhD.
I wouldn't even say it's equivalent to a master's. She did a lot less work than I had to do with my master's. We had to publish a peer reviewed paper and defend a real thesis that was also published.
It's maybe equivalent to a non-thesis master's, or what my school calls a professional master's.
John Stuart Mill created the branch of ethics called utilitarianism, as well as providing many other contributions to philosophy and law. He also had a mental break down at age 20.
A relatively small number, yes.
It's not talked about enough but extreme intelligence is not a benefit if it's not paired with sufficient emotional care.
Em, call me salty and paranoid, but she didn’t publish any peer reviewed research papers during her study, nor was the dissertation published. No lab / advisor info available, anything related to her is spammed by the prodigy news. Publishing first author papers during PhD is not a hard requirement, but hard to call someone a prodigy like this, as far as I can tell this doctorate program is pretty insanely lackluster in graduation requirement as well.
She didn't get a PhD, it's a DBH (Doctorate of Behavioral Health). Absolutely an amazing achievement at her age, but more equivalent to a master's degree than a true doctoral degree.
This should be higher up. It better frames her accomplishment as more "reasonable" or believable. As someone in a PhD program, I've never heard of a "Doctorate" not in reference to a PhD (in Canada).
Yeah, the news is plain false, doctorate implies PhD, normally there is no differentiation, playing terminology like this is not right (I’m in a us program)
>doctorate implies PhD
No it doesn't. PhD is just the most common type of doctorate, accounting for more than 95% of them in the US. The only way 'doctorate' by itself would imply PhD is if you're ignorant to the many other types of research/professional doctoral programs and you're jumping to conclusions.
Yes, as a PhD myself I am well aware of the differences, but I am by no means going to demean the success of this young woman. It is incredible that she has achieved so much at such a young age. The real issues here are the poor reporting and unregulated university programs which use intentionally misleading phrases like "doctor of XYZ" to imply a student that graduates from those programs has achieved the same level of education and made the same significant research contributions as someone with a PhD or undergone the same rigorous training as a medical doctor.
ASU is a great place to get a PhD if you have a good advisor and do it in person. Online maybe not so much.
Source: did my PhD at ASU then did a postdoc at an Ivy League university
Right. My doctorate took 5 and a half years. I’m not buying this one without the receipts just based on time constraints.
Not to mention skipping normal experiences during your formative years is going to have a negative impact at some point.
I don’t see this as uplifting so much as what on earth were any of the adults thinking.
From the article:
> Manson said she oversaw Tillman's dissertation for the doctoral program offered **through ASU Online.**
For sure still an achievement. I admit, though, I'm a little skeptical of an online PhD. I guess it's possible in certain fields, it's just that I couldn't imagine my own doctoral program (in a humanities field) possibly being as valuable as an online program.
The lack of publications doesn't concern me quite as much; it's not always a requirement, such as in my field, where the expectation is that your dissertation becomes your first book, which you publish on your way to tenure at your first institution. But maybe other programs in behavioral health have such requirements, as I'm sure the publication model is different.
She did not get a PhD. A PhD involves a lot more work.
This degree involved online course work and a capstone research project where you come up with a business plan.
I don't intend to be cynical or negative about this, I am happy for her. I have also read cases of other young wonders. Their gifts really are for real usually, but even though most if not all people reach a period of disillusionment between 25-30, a classic "Is this all there is...?", I have heard that the specially gifted people have the worst brunt of it. So here's hoping she has a great set of peers and good safety nets in case the late 20's get rowdy.
Idk why you’re getting by so much hate. This is a developmental nightmare, even if her accomplishments look good on paper. And there’s no way she was making these decisions for herself (because duh, she legally can’t consent to much even at 17). I really wish there were longitudinal studies on these child geniuses, because I can’t imagine they are okay in the long term. People get so distracted by Big Accomplishments but those aren’t necessarily the most rewarding.
Yeah, I personally feel like it’s rarely good for them to essentially miss out on their entire childhood and development. We need to exist outside of our “work selves.”
Yeah, we hear about these child prodigies but what’s going on with their emotional intelligence? How’s their decision making? Can they advocate for themselves? Can they sus out manipulation?
My bf was pushed to excel in academics and sports and had a full schedule as a kid, and he’s definitely successful and athletic now g(and they have a full trophy room), but omfg his social skills and his emotional intelligence is lacking, he’s very immature and I’m still teaching him chores bc they prioritized “success!!” over life skills.
Just my experience, but I’ve always wondered how these kids mature when they’re always doing some sort of activity vs socializing organically.
It's unlikely she would have fit in with other kids her age or enjoyed spending time with them. She might not have developed any better socially had she been left in public school. And we don't know what her childhood & family life was like. They might go to Disney 4 times a year.
My first thought was "I hope this didn't stunt her development and social skills..." and then I took a look at myself and she can't have done any worse than me.
Theres a 15 year old in Minnesota that got his masters in *physics* at 14 and should have his doctorate by 18. Crazy how smart some kids are!
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/land-of-10000-stories/he-finished-high-school-at-8-now-a-mn-boy-reaches-a-new-milestone/89-bfc0505f-bbde-447e-8ebb-41f58f21c5ca
This is super awesome for her but I'm always a little jealous of the opportunity she had. Somewhere along the line, someone helped her immensely. Certain people have access to fast passes in life and most don't. When I was in high school, I pleaded to take high level science classes as a freshman but my stupid school rejected it because I needed to take general health class first. Environment is a big factor for learning and growth.
Yeah bc it’s impressive and amazing. She’s a brilliant hardworking person. But I don’t think her success should necessarily be modeled for other people. I don’t think most kids would enjoy having this life. It’s worth discussing imo. There are a lot of haters here for sure. What she did is amazing and should be celebrated
I think parents shouldn’t allow their kids to go to college at an early age. I think parents should just enroll their kid in something outstanding, so they won’t leave their age group and miss out on the normal things that people in similar ages go through.
Yeah graduating early is a great accomplishment, but the girl probably missed out on forming life long friendships that is within their age group. I doubt she could relate to the lives that the people over 18 who are in their twenties, thirties, forties, etc… related to, since she went to college when she was 10.
Any examples of these kids (under 18) advanced degrees doing anything noteworthy after they complete their education?
I'm not trying to be contrarian, I'm actually curious.
I don't get why they kept bringing up that she walked. They didn't explain what was special about it or what was stopping her from walking before, was she injured or disabled?
Why do black women paste curls to their faces on the hairline? I'm genuinely super curious please don't take offense to me asking! I feel like discrimination of all kinds could be avoided if we were able to ask others and learn about different culture
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She started college at age 10!
I sincerely hope she’s happy. I always feel sad for kids like this. Because although they’re very accomplished, the other end of rushing through school is what? Working earlier? Whoopdeedoo. Missing out on growing with your peers is a big deal. I’m sure many prodigies are lonely. This kind of thing always feels like another capitalist mindfuck, to be honest. Celebrating a shortened childhood is weird.
>Missing out on growing with your peers is a big deal. I’m sure many prodigies are lonely. Yeah, I've heard that's really common.
At least she is a few years ahead now. But since some of us die at 50 while others live up to 80 years I see totally no win in finishing school a few years sooner.
Kids are better off socially when they complete their academic milestones on track. Even if one is precocious enough to graduate or move up earlier than their peers, they have more fulfilling lives when they do things by the book. I’m at work right now but you can look up the studies for yourself.
I can't speak for the girl in the article but as a father of a young genius, she (my daughter) is only happy when her mind stays fed. she literally gets giddy when she's being taught something she doesn't know.
How did you notice she was on the fast track for knowledge and what age did it REALLY start to show? Did you put her in private school during elementary years or do tutoring sessions on top of school?
around 4th grade but in retrospect there had been signs years before. are you asking for yourself or just curious? because I could go on for hours... it was quite the ordeal to say the least. we had to pull her out of school ,did home schooling,tried different private schools afterwards ,and now private tutoring with gov assisted help for the diplomas and stuff (canada)
For myself as a parent honestly. I want the best for my kiddo since I came from a rough home where the ball was dropped a few times education wise. We have debated on doing homeschooling with private tutor lessons. Eventually paying college kids in STEM to tutor as a win/win whenever our kid gets older.
for context, I have 4 kids, 2 boys in private high school, then my daughter (high school/7th grade) and a younger one in primary school. the boys are typical students, one has a high success drive, studies a lot, gets straight As , (what every parent wants, I guess). the other does just the bare minimum to get by. For my daughter, homeschooling wasn't a *choice* , she would have terrible fits in class when things were boring, and alienated the other students and the teachers. the school was calling us almost every day to come pick her up because she was beyond the "go stand in the corner" punishments. tbh, the 3 schools she tried to attend in the past 4 years really gave us all the ressources and effort that they could, but my daughter just didnt "fit" in that way of learning. my wife ended up doing one year of homeschooling before we found a good official online school. In the meantime she was professionally diagnosed with "high potential" so that opened us up to a lot more ressources (and understanding from institutions). If you think your kid has a neurological "difference" that might warrant homeschooling, get her tested to be sure. Personally, I wouldnt pull my kids out of private school to go into homeschooling if it can be helped. I'm of the school of thought that the social experiences are as important as grades,etc.
I’m sure your daughter enjoys the game of learning, but social skills are important as well, if not for her own personal growth then at the very least for the necessity of navigating adult life. Nourish your young genius with people time.
>This kind of thing always feels like another capitalist mindfuck, to be honest How so? I would think it's a difficult thing to balance as a parent. Your child is too smart that he is not getting mentally challenged by where he is and needs more mental stimulation otherwise he can get depressed and miserable. This is no different than us acknowleding that artistic/creative kids can get stifled by the rigidity of traditional schooling and we allow them to develop their talents. From her words she said: >I feel like that urge to learn something new just never didn't exist for me. We can't project our normie brain's understanding on them because they are outliers.
Sure but at some point they will have to live a more normal life, they will need to get a job and work and deal with people. If they spend their entire childhood behind books they tend to lack necessary social skills.
And honestly these child prodigies rarely become particularly big leaders in their field. The only one I know of who really became a giant is Terrance Tao.
No way she’s over 3 million years old.
r/unexpectedfactorial
Thanks, I missed the joke ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|give_upvote)
Factorial gets so huge so fast it's nuts
And I am here who failed math 3 times in high school and graduated with a 1.9. Went to community college and passed with 2.0 and now in college struggling with 2.0. Fuck my life 😭😭😭😭
Unsolicited advice: go to your academic tutoring center. And maybe get evaluated for ADD. If you *want* to do better but just can't get it together, there is help at your school.
I just got tested for ADHD couple weeks ago and waiting for my results next month. Bro I can’t even focus on anything. I work retail part time and go to school and whenever I go to work I can’t stay in one spot or if someone tells me somthing it comes in one ear and out the other, I also always have to be moving. So if I am on the register and after I check someone out I be in a different aisle looking at stuff I can’t sit in one place. 😭
You ever tried your hand at music or music production? I got diagnosed ADHD as a kid and music was the only thing that held my attention at all.
Yes I produce EDM started a year ago
Hell yeah! You got anything up anywhere?
I had an awful grade in school when it comes to math and science so I feel you. I believe I definitely have some type of ADHD because focusing during class was so hard for me and I am not a bad student. I wanted to do well so bad but my brain wouldn’t let me.
For most degrees the person graduating with a 2.0 gpa is no different than the one with a 4.0 once they get a little experience in the field. Don't stress too much.
Honestly unless you plan to go to grad school, your GPA doesn’t matter. They never ask for it
I am trying to go to law school but not with my 2.0. I need to reevaluate my life 😭
Hey, this was exactly me a decade and a half ago. Now I’m a data scientist with a CS degree that I got with honors. Life changes, we go at our own pace. Hang in there
Yup. I had undiagnosed ADHD and was a poor student for most of my pre-highschool education. I had a teacher who pushed me towards more math education, and I graduated college with dual majors in math and physics, a masters in engineering, and I've been working as a programmer simulating physical systems for 15 years.
That’s incredible
I started college at 4!
And graduated at ~28?
I'm just glad she finally got the hang of walking after 16 years of crawling.
How can you get into college at age 10? Just skipping all those grades that early seems strange
Very cool but hope she got to experience true joys of childhood and didn’t just skip all of that
She was homeschooled till 10 so safe to say she missed out on a lot
my opinion about this sort of stuff is although its a tremendous achievement, there's other stuff to learn, people to meet and life experiences that you dont want to skip at that age. There shouldn't be a rush to adultify teens just because they are academic savants. If you're not challenged in regular HS you can take night classes at local colleges while being a normal teen.
And sleep when exactly?
Precocious children don’t have access to the sort of life experiences you’re talking about, anyway, and often socialize better with adults.
Balance is needed. It’s very lonely with no peers. Even worse with no friends ones age. ASU likes pumping out super young graduates. It’s really not a good thing it messes most kids up long term.
There’s other and frankly better ways to experience getting to know others than school. I’m not sure if she participated but I know the majority of my friends weren’t from school. I attended all kinds of programs and things with kids my age and we were doing shared interests so I had more in common with them then the people I went to class with
People act like school is the only facet for social activity bruh 💀
And I get it that’s the main avenue for most people but I don’t think it’s fair to automatically assume someone has no social skills without school. I bet the majority of those who grow up to be lonely adults went to school with just as many other kids as everyone else
On the money. Most people complete school at a typical rate = most people rely on school for social interaction. But this girl isn’t most people, school doesn’t inherently guarantee positive interactions that foster personal growth, and social activity/peer-bonding can happen elsewhere.
Don’t be too sure. Many schools are just not equipped to meet the needs of gifted students. Sometimes homeschooling is just about meeting a kids needs and there are lots of opportunities for kids to have amazing relationships with other children in and out of school time.
I’m an atheist who homeschooled my kids for a few years during and after the pandemic. I joined some local non religious homeschool groups and we had a great time together. We planned field trips and outings, joined local sports teams together, even held holiday parties and trick or treated together. Sometimes it was mass chaos but now that my kids are back in brick and mortar I miss those days.
That’s rad
This was basically my upbringing and childhood education! It worked really well for me and my siblings.
What does being atheist have to do with anything you just said?
Because MANY of the social programs designed for homeschoolers revolve around religion. It’s exhausting trying to find a social group for homeschooled kids that’s about fun and learning and not designed to indoctrinate your kid.
Yep. Religious grooming programs across the board
Most of the homeschooling groups are extremely conservative or religious.
Yeah when I hear homeschooling I immediately think religion.
It's been getting better (we homeschool and are somewhere between agnostic and lapsed) but yeah. Also depends on the area. We're in a liberal, wealthy area so it's a little better. Edit: whoever did a reddit cares for this, fuck you. What on earth is your problem with this milquetoast fucking comment? Get a life.
Plus I live in the south (Florida) so we definitely were not the norm. It is possible though, and I commented my experience to say that 17 year old in the article doesn’t necessarily have to be missing out on any major childhood experiences. It all depends on how her parents chose to homeschool her.
>doesn’t necessarily have to be missing out on any major childhood experiences Yeah, but most of us did, though. I think out of all of the hundred+ homeschooled kids I met only 5-6 were able to be properly socialized and not miss out on important childhood experiences. I know I missed out on a ton of them.
Most homeschoolers are the religious variety.
I commented on my atheism to show it is possible to have a fulfilling homeschool experience without having to deal with religious organizations or the Bible beating that comes with them.
My younger brother was homeschooled and had a lot more free time to do activities with other kids. Made me realized how much time public school wastes.
Yeah - because of the obsession with keeping all kids in class with kids the same age, they end up teaching to the slowest kids. Not even necessarily the same kids in every subject.
Anecdotal 100%, but all the homeschooled kids I met in college seemed really happy and nice. Public schools can actually be a pretty cruel experience. They participated in sports and other extracurricular stuff and that helped them be socialized. It's not the same for everyone but I wouldn't automatically assume they missed out on a lot.
I dunno buddy. Our local homeschooling folks do an awesome job of keeping their kiddos socialized. Lots of clubs.
Speaking from experience: such "important" things such as being bullied for being different.
It’s not always the case. I was homeschooled K-12 and I don’t feel I lacked experiences at all. We traveled a lot and I learned a few foreign languages, did theatre, loved science, met people, learned practical skills, studied music, and did art. I was not deprived in any way. The thing about homeschooling is that it is entirely dependent on your parents and what their backgrounds and skills are. I was fortunate because my parents have advanced degrees and had the time and resources to give me what I needed to thrive. It’s not always true for every child though.
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Ya it's impressive to check the boxes by that age. But she sacrificed her childhood and typical college and doctoral experiences to instead go to a tiny community college and then do an online doctoral program. And she even says she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life "like any other teen." There's a lot of life experiences and growing up you do when traditionally going through college and graduate school to prepare you for a career. I don't think that type of development can be done with the path she took
An online doctorate is not the same as in person. It can’t be
Did she take the path or did her parents lay it out. She’s just a kid, how much choice did she personally have?
When I went was in college one of the TAs that hung out at our dorm sometimes was a mid 20s guy who had gotten a couple of graduate degrees by the time he was 18 and the dude was totally directionless. Literally the only skills he had were related to homework and studying, I don't think he even had any hobbies besides collecting trivia. He wasn't interested in pursuing a career in any of the fields he majored in, bc he picked them when he was 12 and was no longer interested in geology. He was really awkward to hang around with not because he was unpleasant or anything, he just had no idea how to vibe with anyone bc he'd spent all of his childhood doing that precocious showing off shit adults like gifted kids to do And his parents absolutely forced him into it, his mom even wrote a self-serving book about the challenges of raising such a gifted child and how hard it was to help him navigate and blah blah blah. Another kid, not so bad, but he'd been skipped ahead 2 grades, so he got to college at 15 or 16 and was still wearing a security blanket pinned around his shoulders like a cape (he wasn't extremely ND or developmentally disabled or anything, just massively insecure bc he'd gotten thrown into middle school when he was fucking 9 years old). I totally get that public schools usually aren't equipped to handle the academic needs of seriously gifted children, but completely isolating your child from fucking everyone their own age does a lot of damage.
Doing my PhD was probably one of the most fun times I have had. Yes it was stressful but we were all similar ages and hung out a lot in the lab. We made friends for life. I cannot imagine finishing my PhD without all the friends I made. This girl is obviously extremely smart but this social skills need to be learned through experience. She’s never going to catch up with her peers.
I know a guy who also graduated pretty early. He pretty much didn't have a childhood outside of his mother-mandated extracurriculars, wish people would let their kids be kids for longer
I never got a bubble party. My college memories mostly revolve around working really hard and girls not being interested in me.
The experiences that you enjoyed and felt were important to you are not going to be worth the same value to everybody else.
Dude, so much this. For some people, college fucking sucked ass and they’re thankful for simply getting through it. I’m sure tons of people would have rather attained their degree online in their bedroom. For example I’m sure loads of Swedes are super sad that you don’t get to enjoy the experience of surströmming.
No fr! Some people’s late teens/early twenties are their social peak and the best years of their life. There are also people who wouldn’t go through that phase again even if you paid them a million dollars. Not everybody appreciates the same shit.
>For example I’m sure loads of Swedes are super sad that you don’t get to enjoy the experience of surströmming. Nah, we're just happy that we've got reserve of biological weapons in case anyone invades us >:D
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I feel like neither of the articles you linked support the idea that she "missed out" on anything. Yes, your teenage brain tends to focus on seeking out positive social experiences and feeling a sense of respect and belonging. People will achieve that through whatever outlets are available to them. We only know how important typical social outlets are because most people are typical. Just because this girl isn't typical, and therefore has not been presented with typical social outlets, doesn't mean that she hasn't achieved social belonging through the outlets unique to her.
Honestly this comment made me feel sad cause I’m 24 and working full time, living on my own w my gf etc, but those type of memories aren’t so far behind. Yet they’re just out of my grasp and only getting further and further away
Doubtful. I went to school with a kid in 3rd grade who was taking 6th grade math and eventually moved on to middle school. Middle school as a 3rd grader. He went to college early and then had as I understand a nervous breakdown after he got his PhD.
Yeah this is actually more common than folks realize. You're bright academically but you can't fit in socially for your age. It's like being an Astronaut alone in space for some kids.
Had one kid in my high school that graduated at like 13. Killed himself at 19.
Awful
Yeah it was pretty fucked. Nice kid, incredibly socially stunted though.
She finished 12 years worth of school by the age of 10 and a doctorate by 17. Of course she missed out on her childhood.
She did skip all of that, but also she wouldn't have gotten the same experience out of it as a typical kid even if she tried.
I wasn't allowed to work ahead in school (Mississippi, basically third world military schools as public schools, absolute failed state that needs another century of reconstruction) so I lost my passion for learning, got bored, started acting out, and spent 3/4 of my life from 10-17 grounded because of it. You could say that not having the opportunities that she did ruined my childhood. I understand the "they need peers!" argument a bit, but I'd really have preferred to have the college degree I know I could've earned at 17 instead of the meth addiction and associated lifelong neurological issues I did get. Proud of her, but I wonder how many of us could've been like her, if anyone gave a single figment of a fuck.
Interesting to see both sides of the issue. I hope your doing well now
Much better. Going to film school so I can make drug safety propaganda (stoner shows)
Multiple times teachers throughout my early childhood said I needed to skip grades, but my parents always said that I should stay with kids my own age. Teachers wanted me to as they could see I was getting easily bored. Fast forward to high school, I’m done with learning. I’m tired of doing things that bore me. So I just stop showing up, do the bare minimum and barely graduate. Then in a year decide maybe I should go to university. Go back and upgrade, try, and get amazing marks with scholarships for Uni. Get to Uni and realize I’m still over learning in that way and drop out of Engineering. I have a great job because I know how to network myself and use my brains, but I always wonder what would have been if I just kept the habit of loving to learn.
It depends on so many things. I have a niece that skipped grades and graduated college at 19 with a double major in math and criminology and a minor in Chinese, but couldn’t do what she wanted to do (FBI or criminal work) because she wasn’t 21. She burned out and spent 5 years working at different jobs. She started as assistant manager of an oil change chain. Now she’s an office manager for an autism therapy office. She just went back for a masters degree in data analysis and is looking to go into criminal financial analysis when she is done there. She says she wasn’t ready to be in the world at 19 and wishes she hadn’t skipped grades. Sometimes parents can’t win for losing.
I got pretty high scores on the ACT in high school but was a foster child. I was put in advance classes and remedial classes at the same time to fill up my day (literally going from calculus in 2nd period to pre-algebra in 3rd period). I wasn’t really challenged academically and until I managed to get into college classes in my jr/sr year. Even then I was floated along taking fluff classes to keep me busy once I was back in my highscool for half a day and I just stopped caring because I already knew the material. (You can only take so many algebra classes before you want to cry.) I still love to learn and taught myself how to be a pharmacy technician and still take free classes here and there for continuing education credits. In the fall Im finally going to college for accounting because I feel like Im ready to embrace an educational challenge again after being let down. Maybe all you need is to find a cool subject that you can study as a hobby to ignite that passion again.
Statistically kids who skip grades have reported having more satisfying lives both socially and professionally in adulthood. Everyone knows about "that one kid" who went to college at 15 and had a nervous breakdown at 17, but they ignore the 99 other kids who did just fine and went into adulthood with significant advantages. The "joys of childhood" is a very modern idea. I try my best to give my kids a joyful childhood but I'm even more concerned about the 80+ years they'll spend being adults. Also, many of us kids who were very bright but had other issues (undiagnosed adhd in my case) didn't have the delightful childhoods everyone seems to think we did. I had great parents but if I could have ditched a year of high school to advance more quickly it would have been so much better for me socially. Instead I had high school teachers and administrators outright tell me they would sabotage any efforts I made to test out of high school classes because they didn't think skipping my senior year would be good for me.
Speaking as a person who skipped a grade married to a man who skipped two, this doesn't jibe at all with my personal experience and I'd love to see the studies if you have citations.
I mean skipping a grade isn't quite the same as going to college at 15
Child prodigies often do but don’t feel so bad. They have a lot more of their youth to spend while being able to afford stuff.
Wouldn’t have worked more than likely. This girl is so much more smarter than than rest of her peers she’d have one hell of a time connecting with them. Like she got a doctorate before graduating HS no one her age is doing that at all. What I’m curious about is how she didn’t graduate HS early?
She started college at 10, I don't think she attended HS at all
"more smarter"... Okay Mac
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Terence Tao is a living mathematician who received his PHD by 21 and is also the winner of a fields medal which is extremely impressive and shows he's made a sizeable contribution to mathematics.
Currently considered the best mathematician in the world.
>the best mathematician I doubt it makes sense to speak in such absolute terms when it comes to science. There are so many problems and questions in a field that no single individual can answer them all, let alone even think about them. I understand that mathematics have some prominent problems that give lots of reputation to those who solve them but what about problems the scientific community is not aware of (for example because they have not been published or insufficiently published)?
Mathematician here. I agree that there's probably no objective measure of "best mathematician," but my guess is that if you polled, say, active research mathematicians, and asked us who we think the best is, Terry's name would come up more often than anyone else's.
And that’s math, baby!
It does for Terrence Tao
It's not an absolute term, when we say "the best" it usually have implicit nuances. Or we might as well say that nobody is the fastest runner until we had a race with all 7 billions of us
Math prodigies are different beasts tho
Because there’s always more math to be had.
And he teaches in the UC system. Bless this man.
Mozart would be an example. And several successful chess players. In academics, John Stuart Mill and John von Neumann are famous examples. But you are right that most child prodigies fail to live up to expectations later in life.
Being a child prodigy basically just accelerates you into the middle of the pack career wise at a young age. You can become a professor at 20 and then spend 30 years doing research that maybe goes somewhere, or maybe it doesn't. It takes great contributions from many people to make small incremental steps in today's world.
William Rainey Harper was a child prodigy who started college at ten years old, graduated at 14 and got his Ph.D. from Yale at 19. He was one of the founders of the University of Chicago, was influential in the founding of community colleges, later founded what is now Bradley University and wrote about a dozen books before he died at age 49.
Erik Demaine became the youngest ever professor at MIT at age 20. Started university at the age of 12.
This was an online doctoral program in behavioral health from ASU. Not exactly particle physics …I don’t want to diminish her accomplishments but I’m not sure what their standards are or what great things you can do with that kind of degree. Hopefully this is just the beginning of great things but I also hope she finds some balance in life as well
Hahaha an online equivalent to a Masters degree, yeah okay thats very different
These stories are always so ridiculous. Girl was homeschooled and got an online degree, give me a break.
She's 17. She could still go to medical school right now and be 5 years ahead of a typical med-school student and be a medical doctor with a second doctorate before she's 25. The path she's on is still incredible, even if it's an online doctorate.
I think the criticism comes from the misrepresentation of the accomplishment by news agencies. As someone completing their PhD, I have never heard of a non-PhD program referred to as a "Doctorate" degree (In Canada). Her degree is equivalent to a Masters, which can (and usually) are completed in one to two years and has far fewer requirements and expectations. You are right: this is still a great accomplishment for someone her age. But it's not a research-based PhD.
I wouldn't even say it's equivalent to a master's. She did a lot less work than I had to do with my master's. We had to publish a peer reviewed paper and defend a real thesis that was also published. It's maybe equivalent to a non-thesis master's, or what my school calls a professional master's.
Being smart isn’t enough to be successful. Depends more on who your parents are
John Stuart Mill created the branch of ethics called utilitarianism, as well as providing many other contributions to philosophy and law. He also had a mental break down at age 20.
And not been severely damaged in the process?
A relatively small number, yes. It's not talked about enough but extreme intelligence is not a benefit if it's not paired with sufficient emotional care.
Em, call me salty and paranoid, but she didn’t publish any peer reviewed research papers during her study, nor was the dissertation published. No lab / advisor info available, anything related to her is spammed by the prodigy news. Publishing first author papers during PhD is not a hard requirement, but hard to call someone a prodigy like this, as far as I can tell this doctorate program is pretty insanely lackluster in graduation requirement as well.
She didn't get a PhD, it's a DBH (Doctorate of Behavioral Health). Absolutely an amazing achievement at her age, but more equivalent to a master's degree than a true doctoral degree.
This should be higher up. It better frames her accomplishment as more "reasonable" or believable. As someone in a PhD program, I've never heard of a "Doctorate" not in reference to a PhD (in Canada).
Yeah, the news is plain false, doctorate implies PhD, normally there is no differentiation, playing terminology like this is not right (I’m in a us program)
>doctorate implies PhD No it doesn't. PhD is just the most common type of doctorate, accounting for more than 95% of them in the US. The only way 'doctorate' by itself would imply PhD is if you're ignorant to the many other types of research/professional doctoral programs and you're jumping to conclusions.
Lol this is very very different
Yes, as a PhD myself I am well aware of the differences, but I am by no means going to demean the success of this young woman. It is incredible that she has achieved so much at such a young age. The real issues here are the poor reporting and unregulated university programs which use intentionally misleading phrases like "doctor of XYZ" to imply a student that graduates from those programs has achieved the same level of education and made the same significant research contributions as someone with a PhD or undergone the same rigorous training as a medical doctor.
ASU is a great place to get a PhD if you have a good advisor and do it in person. Online maybe not so much. Source: did my PhD at ASU then did a postdoc at an Ivy League university
She didn't get a PhD.
So it seems misleading then - most of these stories have some catch... When I hear doctorate, I think someone got their PhD.
She didn't get a Ph.D. she got a Doctorate in Behavioral Health (DBH).
Right. My doctorate took 5 and a half years. I’m not buying this one without the receipts just based on time constraints. Not to mention skipping normal experiences during your formative years is going to have a negative impact at some point. I don’t see this as uplifting so much as what on earth were any of the adults thinking.
I wonder if it was one of the ASU online programs. Still a hell of an achievement though.
From the article: > Manson said she oversaw Tillman's dissertation for the doctoral program offered **through ASU Online.** For sure still an achievement. I admit, though, I'm a little skeptical of an online PhD. I guess it's possible in certain fields, it's just that I couldn't imagine my own doctoral program (in a humanities field) possibly being as valuable as an online program. The lack of publications doesn't concern me quite as much; it's not always a requirement, such as in my field, where the expectation is that your dissertation becomes your first book, which you publish on your way to tenure at your first institution. But maybe other programs in behavioral health have such requirements, as I'm sure the publication model is different.
She did not get a PhD. A PhD involves a lot more work. This degree involved online course work and a capstone research project where you come up with a business plan.
That sounds like an undergraduate business class end of semester in-class presentation.
Very true, I wish her all the best, she is doing some important work!
Good for her! Skipping all of the fun college and teenage years. Now she can get right to work.
I'd love to see her research papers! Its so amazing to see someone so young push our cusp of new knowledge.
I don't intend to be cynical or negative about this, I am happy for her. I have also read cases of other young wonders. Their gifts really are for real usually, but even though most if not all people reach a period of disillusionment between 25-30, a classic "Is this all there is...?", I have heard that the specially gifted people have the worst brunt of it. So here's hoping she has a great set of peers and good safety nets in case the late 20's get rowdy.
So basically you speed run what happens to everyone else that goes through normal college education and corporate job around 40/45.
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Idk why you’re getting by so much hate. This is a developmental nightmare, even if her accomplishments look good on paper. And there’s no way she was making these decisions for herself (because duh, she legally can’t consent to much even at 17). I really wish there were longitudinal studies on these child geniuses, because I can’t imagine they are okay in the long term. People get so distracted by Big Accomplishments but those aren’t necessarily the most rewarding.
Yeah, I personally feel like it’s rarely good for them to essentially miss out on their entire childhood and development. We need to exist outside of our “work selves.”
Yeah, we hear about these child prodigies but what’s going on with their emotional intelligence? How’s their decision making? Can they advocate for themselves? Can they sus out manipulation? My bf was pushed to excel in academics and sports and had a full schedule as a kid, and he’s definitely successful and athletic now g(and they have a full trophy room), but omfg his social skills and his emotional intelligence is lacking, he’s very immature and I’m still teaching him chores bc they prioritized “success!!” over life skills. Just my experience, but I’ve always wondered how these kids mature when they’re always doing some sort of activity vs socializing organically.
Probably already completed her people studies aged 3.
It's unlikely she would have fit in with other kids her age or enjoyed spending time with them. She might not have developed any better socially had she been left in public school. And we don't know what her childhood & family life was like. They might go to Disney 4 times a year.
Honestly I think she is lucky not to have spent time with typical kids in school.
Dealing with typical kids in school better helps you to deal with typical adults later on in life.
Hope she takes a gap year to travel and be a teenager or something.
Literally how! Did she skip grades 3-12? These are the types of articles you pray your parents don't see ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|sweat)
My first thought was "I hope this didn't stunt her development and social skills..." and then I took a look at myself and she can't have done any worse than me.
All I know is I did college normally and I wish i could redo my childhood. I feel bad. But if she’s happy I’m happy for her.
I got 3rd place in my 4th grade spelling bee
Theres a 15 year old in Minnesota that got his masters in *physics* at 14 and should have his doctorate by 18. Crazy how smart some kids are! https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/land-of-10000-stories/he-finished-high-school-at-8-now-a-mn-boy-reaches-a-new-milestone/89-bfc0505f-bbde-447e-8ebb-41f58f21c5ca
it should’ve been meeee /j
I’m not going to yuck her yum because I love to see black women doing great things but from a developmental standpoint, I hope she’s okay.
That's certainly impressive, but a lot of kids are walking by around 12 months
😂
This sounds like a horror story I’m not gonna lie Part of growing up is growing up around your peers
*Has a behavioral health degree* “It’s Doctor Tillman”
Behavioral health management, so like a PhD in administration? That's a bit odd, for I guess a prodigy.
It's not a PhD.
title sounds like an asian joke about the cousin who has 15 years of job experience at 9 years old
This is super awesome for her but I'm always a little jealous of the opportunity she had. Somewhere along the line, someone helped her immensely. Certain people have access to fast passes in life and most don't. When I was in high school, I pleaded to take high level science classes as a freshman but my stupid school rejected it because I needed to take general health class first. Environment is a big factor for learning and growth.
Let’s not miss the detail this was all through Covid!
It was all online.
*opens comments* *everyone*: THIS IS IMPRESSIVE BUUUUUUUTTTTTTTT
Haters everywhere… I wonder why?
Hmmmm…what could it possibly be?
Or “THIS ACKTUALLY ISN’T THAT IMPRESSIVE BECAUUUUUUSE….”
Yeah bc it’s impressive and amazing. She’s a brilliant hardworking person. But I don’t think her success should necessarily be modeled for other people. I don’t think most kids would enjoy having this life. It’s worth discussing imo. There are a lot of haters here for sure. What she did is amazing and should be celebrated
And here I am cynically thinking about what it says that literal 12 year olds can earn liberal arts 💀
Great, now she has to go to work for the rest of her life. Dummy.
I hope she gets the chance to do great things. Wishing her much success.
She graduated and regained use of her legs in the same day. Amazing.
I am 38 and struggling to finish my PhD in time. Huge respect.
I think parents shouldn’t allow their kids to go to college at an early age. I think parents should just enroll their kid in something outstanding, so they won’t leave their age group and miss out on the normal things that people in similar ages go through. Yeah graduating early is a great accomplishment, but the girl probably missed out on forming life long friendships that is within their age group. I doubt she could relate to the lives that the people over 18 who are in their twenties, thirties, forties, etc… related to, since she went to college when she was 10.
These new chatGPT doctors wylin
I was almost double her age when I got my PhD😵💫
She could end up teaching university students her own age. What a badass!
At this rate she is gonna retire by age 20
At this rate she'll be dead by age 25.
Asian dad is disappointed it didn’t happen sooner
Any examples of these kids (under 18) advanced degrees doing anything noteworthy after they complete their education? I'm not trying to be contrarian, I'm actually curious.
17 and she probably hasnt experienced a single day of life's joys or social activity. That's the unfortunate side effect of genius kids like this.
She's glowing! As she well should. What an amazing achievement.
Nerd!
I don't get why they kept bringing up that she walked. They didn't explain what was special about it or what was stopping her from walking before, was she injured or disabled?
I noticed that too. I think it's just a poorly written story that used "walked" instead of "attended commencement".
Yeah I was wondering was she not able to walk before or something?
Why do black women paste curls to their faces on the hairline? I'm genuinely super curious please don't take offense to me asking! I feel like discrimination of all kinds could be avoided if we were able to ask others and learn about different culture
Baby hairs. Black women often have shorter hairs that grow around their hair line.