Wow... 14 year old Genius Girl getting her PhD

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Kenazo
I found that list of accomplishments by James Sidis interesting...

8. Learned to spell efficiently by one year old.

evidently he didn't write the list. It should be proficiently.

Yeah, the list is from a review of one of Sidis' biographies. Full link is here: http://www.quantonics.com/The_Prodigy_Review.html

The poor guy got thrown out by society though. Spent his adult life in seclusion. Everyone thought he was insane.

ZV

 

[dpopiz]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
America would be a much better place if more children did this. All the media encourages kids to become adults earlier, but only on the sexual level. Give condoms to kid at school, but make them pay for their own tutoring. Give them free food, but pass them through on D-'s already on a grade curve.

Life is fun - being intelligent and having a good paying career lets you have that fun, while avoiding stupid consequences. Playing XBox and shopping at the mall your entire childhood isn't exactly fulfilling nor progressive to maturation. Playing an instrument, science projects, boy/girl scouts, drama club, etc. is what's good for our kids!

sure, it always helps to give kids lots of intellectual opportunities very early on, but the reality is that everybody has a genetically determined maximum potential for intelligence. I have a very low one, but at least it's nice to know it so I'm not so depressed anymore.

 

[LS20]

yeah, but she'll never get laid

 

[dpopiz]

Originally posted by: LS20
yeah, but she'll never get laid

agreed. honestly it's sad and true

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
is there any evidence that more people are not capable of doing that if they had the right parental influence?

Uh...yeah, there's quite a bit. There have been many children who demonstrated very early signs of higher functioning that could not be explained by parental contribution, considering that their parents found themselves way out of their league very early on in trying to challenge their child academically and intellectually. There are cases where parents of modest education and intelligence have sought professional help for a child they believed to be 'unusual', and not the 'good' kind of unusual, only to hear there was nothing 'wrong' with their child, he was just extraordinarily advanced (and they weren't).

Many parents read to their children early on, provide lots of early learning experiences, do all the right things. Not many parents come home one day to find their three year old perusing The Economist with a pipe hanging from his mouth.

 

[HokieESM]

The girl is obviously extremely academically (and musically) gifted. Bravo to her (and her parents) for allowing her to progress through school--and feed her thirst for knowledge.

The PhD in a year is slightly odd, though--here at VT, you have to give your proposal a full year before you can defend... and you must pass your qualifiers and preliminary exams before proposing. So that gives a bare minimum of two years for a PhD (most do it in three to four, depending on major and advisor). Drexel might have bent the rules to get the publicity, though.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I don't know what to make of these kinds of child prodigies. I find it hard to believe there is no pressure from her parents to perform. I think it's good she obviously has a lot of extracurricular activities, but it's hard to dispute that this kind of progress will tend to marginalize her socially. My parents never let me skip grades for this very reason.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
is there any evidence that more people are not capable of doing that if they had the right parental influence?

i'm not sure it's such a great accomplishment. it's an accomplishment, anyone achieving a phd has achieved something, but i'm not convinced that it is that much more special than any other phd.

http://www.aliasabur.com/newbio.html

So she's not special?

shock and awe...

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: yllus
From The Philidelphia Inquirer:

Alia does origami. She works on her website, aliasabur.com. She listens to U2 and Matchbox 20 and watches "funny, pointless movies."

Well, we've definitely identified a weakness in the wonderkid. Her website SUCKS.

Originally posted by: SagaLore
High School is NOT the best years of life.

Instead of wasting time trying to find acceptance, partying, having sex, reading stupid teen magazines etc. - you should be getting an education.

Bitter, anyone?

I see it as the reverse. You have the rest of your life to be a learning and earning automaton. Be wild and stupid while you're young and it's still socially acceptable. Those times will never come again.

Not true. It is a fact that the older you get, the less your brain is able to efficiently make new logical associations. As a 10 year old you could learn to play an instrument quickly, and very well - but at 40 trying to start from scratch is much more difficult and takes longer. The sooner we increase our intellect the better off we are when we're older.

The only reason kids "be wild and stupid" is because of encouragement of their peers. Everyone wants to be accepted and have friends. You can have a lot of fun without being "wild" and you can have a lot of fun without being "stupid". I really don't think anybody would be wild and stupid if not for peer pressure (and lots of :beer: )

The only different between childhood and adulthood is innocence. But considering that our culture is taking that away from them, it's still not a free ticket to be an idiot.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

shock and awe...

If sex offenders have to register with the police, that guy should have to register as a potential sex offender and all-around weirdo.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: HokieESM
The girl is obviously extremely academically (and musically) gifted. Bravo to her (and her parents) for allowing her to progress through school--and feed her thirst for knowledge.

The PhD in a year is slightly odd, though--here at VT, you have to give your proposal a full year before you can defend... and you must pass your qualifiers and preliminary exams before proposing. So that gives a bare minimum of two years for a PhD (most do it in three to four, depending on major and advisor). Drexel might have bent the rules to get the publicity, though.

Drexel has fallen quite a way it seems. How can anyone promise a PhD with credibility? If she is in the sciences, then she would have to do research. What if that goes south? We had a saying in grad school. "That's science" We used that term when things went to hell in a hand basket, which they do. I know some fine minds who spent 7 or more years at Harvard in biology simply because they couldn't get crap. It isn't a matter of intelligence alone. You need dumb luck. The only way around that is to know the outcome of your experiments BEFORE you do them. If that is the case, and you already knew the answer, why the heck did you do it to begin with? You cannot confirm an experiment before it is done. That's an oxymoron.

The more I think about this, the more I believe it's a bad idea. Poor thing is not emotionally ready to compete, and believe me grad school IS competition. She is gonna fry. Can you see her doing 60 to 80 hours in the lab? Not bloody likely. When her thesis committee tears apart her proposal? When she defends? Unless Drexel exempts her from the requirements, she is screwed. If they do, then Drexel deserves to lose whatever accreditation it has.

 

[tcsenter]

Another William James Sidis. I hope that I'm wrong, but history is with me here.

Hehe, this man was the apex of human genius!

18. He was a reformed communist/socialist ? eventually found both intellectually disgusting.

As any real genius would.

 

[bleeb]

Hey she graduated in Applied Math! This confirms her GENIUS!!

 

[Hammer]

she's thick

 

[oboeguy]

She won't have the PhD until 2007 (so age 17? doh, I'll be 30 when I finish mine).

 

[GasX]

I can see the thesis now...

"And I was like OMG, the universe is like expanding! omg lol kthxbye"

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: Red
Overly demanding parents and negative social sideaffects galore!

You can't come to that conclusion right away. She started doing things before age 1. Other kids that age can either do it or not, and that's not based on parents pushing them. A prodigy is a prodigy.. born that way.

 

[gopunk]

The more I think about this, the more I believe it's a bad idea. Poor thing is not emotionally ready to compete, and believe me grad school IS competition. She is gonna fry. Can you see her doing 60 to 80 hours in the lab? Not bloody likely. When her thesis committee tears apart her proposal? When she defends? Unless Drexel exempts her from the requirements, she is screwed. If they do, then Drexel deserves to lose whatever accreditation it has.

i don't see how you can say that so authoritatively. do you know her? do you have experience with extremely gifted children? some people are capable of handling things at a younger age, that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

 

[Yossarian]

"February 22, 1989 three and one half weeks early. 6 hours of natural labor
No complications, no incubator"

I should add such important details to my resume.

* squeezed out right on time
* liked to breast feed
* in fact is still quite a fan of breasteses.

 

[PingSpike]

I bet she totally pwns at UT2K4 too.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: gopunk

The more I think about this, the more I believe it's a bad idea. Poor thing is not emotionally ready to compete, and believe me grad school IS competition. She is gonna fry. Can you see her doing 60 to 80 hours in the lab? Not bloody likely. When her thesis committee tears apart her proposal? When she defends? Unless Drexel exempts her from the requirements, she is screwed. If they do, then Drexel deserves to lose whatever accreditation it has.

i don't see how you can say that so authoritatively. do you know her? do you have experience with extremely gifted children? some people are capable of handling things at a younger age, that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

No I do not know her. Yes I have experience with extremely gifted children. Yes, I have a doctorate in the sciences. Yes, she will be chewed up and spit out, or be given a pass for publicity sake.

I don't know her. I don't need to. I know what she is in for.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith

Originally posted by: gopunk

The more I think about this, the more I believe it's a bad idea. Poor thing is not emotionally ready to compete, and believe me grad school IS competition. She is gonna fry. Can you see her doing 60 to 80 hours in the lab? Not bloody likely. When her thesis committee tears apart her proposal? When she defends? Unless Drexel exempts her from the requirements, she is screwed. If they do, then Drexel deserves to lose whatever accreditation it has.

i don't see how you can say that so authoritatively. do you know her? do you have experience with extremely gifted children? some people are capable of handling things at a younger age, that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

No I do not know her. Yes I have experience with extremely gifted children. Yes, I have a doctorate in the sciences. Yes, she will be chewed up and spit out, or be given a pass for publicity sake.

I don't know her. I don't need to. I know what she is in for.

what sort of experience do you have with extremely gifted children?

 

[rh71]

her personality isn't so desirable (stuff on that bio just doesn't belong), but that doesn't take away from her accomplishments.

 

[KevinH]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Legendary
I hope she's not as socially awkward as some of the other kids that accelerate through school that quickly.
Good for her though, although IMO she missed out on the best years of her life, maybe that doesn't matter to her.

High School is NOT the best years of life.

Instead of wasting time trying to find acceptance, partying, having sex, reading stupid teen magazines etc. - you should be getting an education. Then those 15 years spent in school LEARNING will bring you much more happiness as an adult, for the next 50+ years.

For me personally high school sucked, it was the worst years of my life. Because all the emphasis was on socializing, "hanging out", finding a boyfriend/girlfriend, or competing in sports. I certainly didn't accelerate through school. My observation is that the ability to enjoy life and have fun comes from the home/family. Anything else learned in school on the social level is not constructive. You learn to form cliques, to compete, to hate, to cheat, to focus on status rather than schoolwork, to oppose authority.

You forgot to add the disclaimer that what you said applies to you. I loved HS. Did all the fun HS stuff. I'm an adult now, and hey, I'm a happy well-adjust adult. Funny how that works. You have some issues in HS? Get beat up alot?

Woops, just realized you did add that disclaimer . Anyhow my point still stands. The majority of high school education is damned near "worthless". I did the whole all AP, honors in high school and it didn't amount to anything once I got to UCI. I did some activities on campus but looking back I think being more balanced in general would hvae been more important to me.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: KevinH

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Legendary
I hope she's not as socially awkward as some of the other kids that accelerate through school that quickly.
Good for her though, although IMO she missed out on the best years of her life, maybe that doesn't matter to her.

High School is NOT the best years of life.

Instead of wasting time trying to find acceptance, partying, having sex, reading stupid teen magazines etc. - you should be getting an education. Then those 15 years spent in school LEARNING will bring you much more happiness as an adult, for the next 50+ years.

For me personally high school sucked, it was the worst years of my life. Because all the emphasis was on socializing, "hanging out", finding a boyfriend/girlfriend, or competing in sports. I certainly didn't accelerate through school. My observation is that the ability to enjoy life and have fun comes from the home/family. Anything else learned in school on the social level is not constructive. You learn to form cliques, to compete, to hate, to cheat, to focus on status rather than schoolwork, to oppose authority.

You forgot to add the disclaimer that what you said applies to you. I loved HS. Did all the fun HS stuff. I'm an adult now, and hey, I'm a happy well-adjust adult. Funny how that works. You have some issues in HS? Get beat up alot?

No not beat up. Perhaps I was just in a bad high school. Do you think you would better off now in life if you had excelled a little more in high school?