Maybe. It’s more like it’s what a kid’s parents do when kids can no longer be kids and are driven to start working on their college applications earlier and earlier.
To briefly clarify on why I believe it is the former: Caleb just happened to have caught a really bad fungal pneumonia when he was 9yo, and that was his inspiration to explore what could be done to diagnose things differently. And he just happened to do tons of research to try and re-use open source technology, etc.
There's more to making electronics than getting into MIT and prestigious universities. I think a lot of the users on HN like myself enjoy creating things just to create them. I don't need prestige or accolades; just build something, break it, fix it, take it apart. Some people enjoy learning how things work.
On the other hand, if the kid is 'coached' to look/identify, as you say, it is a sad state of affairs when kids are pushed into adulthood too soon...
We have seen this for more than a decade also with the marketing practices around sexualization of fashion for younger and younger kids...