Posted by special_k on March 26, 2006, at 2:59:27
In reply to Re: critique of the bell curve, posted by special_k on March 25, 2006, at 23:35:44
there was a kid in the south island in nz who scored really highly on science / math. not so high on verbal.
she was around 11 years old...
and she was taking a class at university. biology i believe.
in the program they made a big deal of how she had a special talent in biology.
in reading etc she came up above average for her age.
her mother was on welfare. she helped her one hell of a lot. re reading the text books etc. the girl did her own tests etc at university but i noticed the tests were all multi choice.
i also noticed that she was scoring around 75%. that is an A-. That is a very good score don't get me wrong. but if you have an A- average well... that will get you some kinds of scholarships but not entry to the top universities in your field.
not at all.
i don't think her mother was pushing her...
but i think her mother was encouraging her one hell of a lot.
and it was coming at the cost of...
trying to obtain a relatively normal social development. re spending time with her peers. re phys ed. re reading and learning about history and all kinds of other things.
do i think it is a good thing?
her grade will be on her transcript forever.
i don't think her mother is doing her any favours.
she could have studied the material in a directed study at school in her own time if she was interested.
presumably there was mor eshe could have learned to do independently.
an A- on her transcript is something that she is going to be regretting later. it is. doesn't matter that she was 11 when she got it.
apparant to me...
and seemed it was apparant to her profs... that she should have waited...
but...
she was privately funded to do it. and i can understand why that made a huge difference to her life, her mothers life, and her younger sisters life (her mother was on welfare remember). on welfare so she could be at home with her children so she could be the best mother she could be to them.
what a bitch of a situation.
poster:special_k
thread:622738
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060322/msgs/624739.html