My congratulations to the Gargoyle editorial staff for tackling another complex issue.
But I think it is important that we all realize that the issues of skipping are hardly new. "Skipping," or ending up a year ahead of one's peers in school, has been going on for decades, and is not inherently the problem. In fact, being a year older than everyone else can also be an issue.
The problems arise not with age, but with social maturity, etc., as others have noted.
My father is over 70 years of age. When he was 5, they were just starting kindergarten in the Chicago suburbs, but it was optional. His mother was given the choice of letting him go to kindergarten or first grade. She elected to send him to first grade. He graduated from high school a few months after he turned 17. College at barely 21.
My husband started school at the typical age, but completed high school in 3 years. He turned 17 a month after completing HS, and turned 21 after college graduation.
I, on the other hand was traditionally aged. I turned 18 in the middle of my senior year of high school, 22 my senior year of college.
While it is admittedly anecdotal, I would be hard-pressed to say that our relative ages were the determinants of our readiness for school, and our success in those environments. I believe our life experiences and personalities were far more relevant. In fact, my husband, who was 18 months younger as a college student than I was, was far more ready for college than I was, in many ways.
And we considered all these things when our son applied and was accepted into UNI. He applied as a 6th grader, and made it in. He is the 3rd or 4th youngest in his class. But most people do not realize that, and never have. He has always been bigger than most, and more calm and mature than many. He will not turn 17 until the August after he graduates from UNI.
Our daughter is a 6th grader, and is working on her application.
UNI offers unique opportunities. For our son, it offered an academic challenge, and the chance to be among peers with whom he had more in common. He has more friends at UNI than he did at his old schools, because they have so much more in common. For our daughter, if she makes it in, we hope she will have the opportunity to be a part of a school where being an intelligent female is not a liability socially, and a place were her musical abilities and interests can be nurtured.
The issue of being "dispositionally suited" for an academic program is one we also face at the college level. I have students at my school that I wonder how they made it out of Jr. High. Compared to most UNI students.....well, there IS no comparison, in some cases. Age is no guarantee of maturity or the skills needed to thrive in an academically rigorous environment, let alone the world. But "disposition" is very difficult to judge without regular, frequent contact with an individual, which is virtually impossible to do in an application process.
Is this an issue UNI needs to monitor? Absolutely! And they already do, refining the process each year. But the issue is NOT age, so much as it is disposition.
Another perspective
My congratulations to the Gargoyle editorial staff for tackling another complex issue.
But I think it is important that we all realize that the issues of skipping are hardly new. "Skipping," or ending up a year ahead of one's peers in school, has been going on for decades, and is not inherently the problem. In fact, being a year older than everyone else can also be an issue.
The problems arise not with age, but with social maturity, etc., as others have noted.
My father is over 70 years of age. When he was 5, they were just starting kindergarten in the Chicago suburbs, but it was optional. His mother was given the choice of letting him go to kindergarten or first grade. She elected to send him to first grade. He graduated from high school a few months after he turned 17. College at barely 21.
My husband started school at the typical age, but completed high school in 3 years. He turned 17 a month after completing HS, and turned 21 after college graduation.
I, on the other hand was traditionally aged. I turned 18 in the middle of my senior year of high school, 22 my senior year of college.
While it is admittedly anecdotal, I would be hard-pressed to say that our relative ages were the determinants of our readiness for school, and our success in those environments. I believe our life experiences and personalities were far more relevant. In fact, my husband, who was 18 months younger as a college student than I was, was far more ready for college than I was, in many ways.
And we considered all these things when our son applied and was accepted into UNI. He applied as a 6th grader, and made it in. He is the 3rd or 4th youngest in his class. But most people do not realize that, and never have. He has always been bigger than most, and more calm and mature than many. He will not turn 17 until the August after he graduates from UNI.
Our daughter is a 6th grader, and is working on her application.
UNI offers unique opportunities. For our son, it offered an academic challenge, and the chance to be among peers with whom he had more in common. He has more friends at UNI than he did at his old schools, because they have so much more in common. For our daughter, if she makes it in, we hope she will have the opportunity to be a part of a school where being an intelligent female is not a liability socially, and a place were her musical abilities and interests can be nurtured.
The issue of being "dispositionally suited" for an academic program is one we also face at the college level. I have students at my school that I wonder how they made it out of Jr. High. Compared to most UNI students.....well, there IS no comparison, in some cases. Age is no guarantee of maturity or the skills needed to thrive in an academically rigorous environment, let alone the world. But "disposition" is very difficult to judge without regular, frequent contact with an individual, which is virtually impossible to do in an application process.
Is this an issue UNI needs to monitor? Absolutely! And they already do, refining the process each year. But the issue is NOT age, so much as it is disposition.