[LeftHandPath]

That's interesting. My parents were told, in SC and FL, to have me skip a grade or two (not six!), but refused due to the social burden they expected it to put on me.

I'm not entirely happy with where I am at 26. I wonder if I'd be further ahead - or behind - if I had skipped forward.

[bobfromsf]

There was a study done in Australia that showed that radical acceleration for gifted kids resulted in the highest overall satisfaction in life. It sounds like you probably needed further acceleration.

[ryandrake]

I guess the key is to not just accelerate the kid into a higher grade full of "general population" students. He'd just be surrounded by a different group of mediocre (just older) kids. I think really smart kids need to be surrounded by other really smart kids or their social circle will constantly drag them back to the mean.

[liontwist]

Really? I often hear the opposite, kids I knew who got a bachelors degree at 17 say well now what? What is the rush!

[bobfromsf]

This isn’t about it being a rush. For kids like mine, they NEED it. My son wanted to learn calculus when he was 9 but I refused and instead sent him to outdoor summer camps, sports camps etc. He still doesn’t know calculus because I told him not to rush it and he is resentful but instead he took geometry, number theory etc. He wants to learn at an accelerated pace, it’s not about anyone except for him pushing himself because he needs it.

[liontwist]

Yes he needs intellectual stimulation.

But is that going to come from being in 6th grade instead of 3rd grade?

[robocat]

I skipped forward a year at Uni. Being academically proficient (≈IQ) and socially proficient (≈EQ) are very different things and I was not wise enough to make good decisions.

I am regularly blown away by the deep social capabilities of some of my smarter friends. For a few years I have been dedicating a lot of thought to social interactions. I waste virtually zero time on past academic interests.

Too many people equate IQ with STEM skills (especially Maths). Hard sciences are much easier to learn than soft skills.

[LeftHandPath]

Agreed. I lean towards thinking I would've wound up further behind if I skipped one or more grades, due to the social aspect. Especially given how often I moved.

Keeping the regular pace also allowed me to do a lot more extracurriculars. I started helping with quantum computing research in my freshman year of college and joined a bunch of clubs.