Early college update on my son

[DawnM]

Well, well, well......

 

If you recall my earlier thread where I asked for input about my 16 year old and his different options for 11th grade next year, and how he was interested in being a Journalism major and several of you suggested I talk to him about a STEM minor.......

 

Ok, so, he took the test to get in to the dual enrollment program.  It is only English and math.  He scored ok on the English, he passed and did very well on the reading, but just so-so on the writing.  But he got almost a perfect score on the math!

 

Um, son, time to rethink that major you were interested in.

 

So, we talked and he says he loves math, but he doesn't like science.  He gets math.

 

However, I think his interest in science went down the tubes this year with a really bad science teacher at the school he is attending this year, so I am not sure if he doesn't like science overall, or if it is just this particular teacher.  He liked it last year at the HS co-op.

 

He has lots of time to look into majors as he is just taking general classes anyway, but I think he really needs to pursue something in a field that involves math.

 

Anyway, we are just thankful he passed the test with flying colors and we turned in the paperwork yesterday for him to go to the early college program next year.

[snowbeltmom]

Anyway, we are just thankful he passed the test with flying colors and we turned in the paperwork yesterday for him to go to the early college program next year.

 

:party: Congratulations! 

 

[Jenny in Florida]

Congratulations to your son! 

 

As far as rethinking the major based on his test scores, I'll just add this observation:

 

I have two highly/profoundly gifted offspring. Both, honestly, could do whatever they wanted academically with minimal effort. Both are bored silly and made miserable by anything that comes too easily. Both have chosen performing arts as a career path. They made this choice based on what they love, not what they are good at, and one of the attractions is precisely that the work isn't easy for them.

 

Obviously, a 16-year-old who passes these tests with flying colors is capable of being successful in whatever field he chooses. It's not always wise to steer a student toward a particular career path on the basis of perceived aptitude.

[JanetC]

He could be a math-oriented journalist. Look what Nate Silver did with fivethirtyeight.com, for example. Or, the Freakonomics guys.

 

Sports, politics, business, finance, and science journalism all could use math-focused reporting. Alongside journalism, he would take stats, plus econ and/or business for financial journalism and/or science electives for science journalism.

[teachermom2834]

My dh is a science/math guy that has always been employed in positions where he was bridging the gap between STEM folks and regular folks :) He has been in technical writing, stats, data analysis. There seems to be a real need for the math types that are good communicators.

[DebbS]

Three observations: 1)There is more to journalism than writing. 2) Writing is a learned skill. 3) Writing tests often have very little to do with ones ability to write.

 

IMO, the test results mean much less than your son's passion.

[DawnM]

Yeah, we aren't telling him what to do, but we are talking about aptitude and such with him.  

 

He is free to do whatever he wants to do, really.

 

But we have been a bit surprised at how well he is doing in math and how easily it is coming to him.

[DawnM]

Has he considered being just a plain ol' math major?  (asks the former math major...)

 

He honestly hasn't considered a whole lot of anything so far.  :lol:   He loves music and theater though!

[angela in ohio]

I think it's a mistake to lump all sciences together in order to determine whether a student likes "science". My two dd hate bio-related fields and are so-so on chem, but they are all about electrical, mechanical, physics, robotics, etc. Instead of talking to him about whether he likes science as a subject, pull apart various aspects of it. Maybe it wasn't just that one teacher, maybe it was the subject. There are so many options in the sciences. Of course, math alone is another option.

 

I'd also not rule out journalism because of the English score. My oldest isn't in her strongest natural field (she was better in English than math and is a computer engineering major) but it works for her.

 

Yay on the early college! My daughters transition to college after having taken college classes in high school was easier than her peers. It works very well.

Edited April 3, 2016 by angela in ohio

[DawnM]

Thanks for the input.  I was really just joking more than anything.  I was shocked that his math scores were that high!

 

He is welcome to pursue any degree he feels he would like to pursue.