[ExI] education again

spike spike66 at att.net
Wed Jun 1 14:22:27 UTC 2016


 

 

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2016 6:49 AM
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Subject: Re: [ExI] education again

 

Suggestions please?

 

>…No kid is going to be through with school at 12 or 14 since he will not have experienced all the classes that are taught, such as 11th grade history, or 12th grade finance…

 

Why those two in particular BillW?  Both look to me like good examples of classes which can be mastered at an earlier age than 16.  Finance is not a requirement, but it is easier than plenty of the math courses.  Set up spreadsheets for expenses, create exponential growth models and so forth.  Both those examples seem nearly ideal candidates for being broken down into 15 minute lectures common in online curricula.

 

 

>…But if he has passed all the requirements for graduation, why not let him take college courses online?  He could be allowed to continue to participate in the clubs he was in at school, or sports, so he could get the socializing he wants and needs…

 

Ja that is a strategy, but really where I am going with this is not the individual prodigy here and there (which we have always had (and always dealt with in a clumsy ad hoc manner.))  Rather what happens when we get 10% of the 8th graders who can demonstrate mastery of the usual disciplines the mainstream is still struggling with in the upper grades?  My notion is that if every student is allowed to advance at his or her own pace, that top 10% by end of 8th grade is realistic.  My claim is that about 10% of the class is held back intentionally with the others, or left without help, or actively distracted with useless tasks to waste their time. Harm is done.  

 

>…Why not call a local college and ask them how they deal with a prodigy who is intellectually ready for college at 14? bill w  and maybe more later

 

 

They can do some accommodations now, but I can see problems with trying to shoehorn in dozens of minors into a college environment.  We need some kind of basic rethinking, perhaps some kind of breakaway effort or Kickstarter or something.

 

spike

 

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