Great article written by PG 9 year old in college

[SeaConquest]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/9-year-old-gifted-college-student_us_5c3cc04be4b0e0baf53fcef0?fbclid=IwAR0E6khBe2I5PWBfBLLZ1LrwptmlwRbjPhN3DHlA8sIGzQTl7fYFOPahFjE

[gstharr]

Thanks for sharing. the heading of the article had me wowing. However, reading between the lines, I thinks this is unfortunate.  Judging from his reading list, and his posted shortcomings with executive functioning, i doubt that he wrote very much of the essay.  What I see is a 9 year old kid taking intro algebra, and chemistry at the CC, instead of the high school,.  Still impressive but not newsworthy 

[RoundAbout]

I can't get over that someone would let their 9 year-old read Game of Thrones, however gifted. There is explicit sexual and other violence in those books and I have a few adult friends who struggle with the content. 

[8filltheheart]

1 hour ago, RoundAbout said:

I can't get over that someone would let their 9 year-old read Game of Thrones, however gifted. There is explicit sexual and other violence in those books and I have a few adult friends who struggle with the content. 

I thought the same thing about 1984 when I read the article (or knowing all of the dance moved in Fortnite.  I didn't even know what Fortnite was until last night when talking to my sil about her nephew with serious behavioral problems who spends hrs on Fortnite.)

[Ravin]

Using a spell checker doesn't mean he didn't write the article himself. It mentioned his emotional intelligence is also very high. I find it baffling that the primary reactions to this article are to bash his parents. Good grief.

[8filltheheart]

9 minutes ago, Ravin said:

Using a spell checker doesn't mean he didn't write the article himself. It mentioned his emotional intelligence is also very high. I find it baffling that the primary reactions to this article are to bash his parents. Good grief.

Not bashing his parents, but it is certainly not an article that makes me think, "yay for this kid and everything he wrote about."  Gifted or no, he is 9. From my perspective, 9 trumps everything else.

[mathnerd]

4 hours ago, gstharr said:

Thanks for sharing. the heading of the article had me wowing. However, reading between the lines, I thinks this is unfortunate.  Judging from his reading list, and his posted shortcomings with executive functioning, i doubt that he wrote very much of the essay.  What I see is a 9 year old kid taking intro algebra, and chemistry at the CC, instead of the high school,.  Still impressive but not newsworthy 

This is not unusual in my neck of the woods where there are extremely advanced and accomplished kids for their chronological age. I live on the same street as a 10 year old who is reading War and Peace for fun, is accomplished in both the cello and the violin, is taking tutoring classes from a professor on topics such as Ergodic Theory, Dirichlet's theorem for enrichment as regular math track is "boring" (has finished a lot of the school sequence of mathematics, if not all topics), has programmed 2 apps that has almost 2000 users combined, speaks 4 languages and studies Latin and Greek in addition (wins prizes in national level Latin contests) and also is an accomplished ice hockey player and there is absolutely no way I would know about these things if I did not have direct conversations with him about what he is doing. He has 2 siblings who are, equally, if not more accomplished. 

This is not unusual in certain circles of Exceptionally Gifted kids in the suburban US.

Edited January 16, 2019 by mathnerd

[lewelma]

I read 1984 at age 14, and had nightmares about the rat in the cage eating the guy's face for years.  😲

[moonflower]

I read 1984 as a teenager and it was too early.  Such a cynical book!  I felt the same way about Kafka's Metamorphosis, which we were forced to read in IB English - really not a book for teenagers, imo.  I'm not saying lit for kids, incl. gifted ones, should be all happiness and light, but nihilism and cynicism, especially about the concerns of adulthood, are kind of a mismatch with the age.  

[dirty ethel rackham]

7 hours ago, gstharr said:

Thanks for sharing. the heading of the article had me wowing. However, reading between the lines, I thinks this is unfortunate.  Judging from his reading list, and his posted shortcomings with executive functioning, i doubt that he wrote very much of the essay.  What I see is a 9 year old kid taking intro algebra, and chemistry at the CC, instead of the high school,.  Still impressive but not newsworthy 

Did you read the article to the end?  His parents forced him to take Intro to Algebra, even though he tested into Calculus.  He was doing Linear Algebra on his own.  I think he did write it. It sounds like most of the profoundly gifted kids I have met.  

7 hours ago, RoundAbout said:

I can't get over that someone would let their 9 year-old read Game of Thrones, however gifted. There is explicit sexual and other violence in those books and I have a few adult friends who struggle with the content. 

I'm sure his parents regretted that choice.  I wasn't one to make a big deal out of censoring my kids reading, but it was hard to find challenging reading material for my precocious reader.  I often found out that he read certain "mature" things well after the fact.  Since this kid is very aware of politics and current events, he doesn't sound like it phased him much.  Some kids are just like that.  They can be dispassionate about certain things that others find horrifying.  

5 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Not bashing his parents, but it is certainly not an article that makes me think, "yay for this kid and everything he wrote about."  Gifted or no, he is 9. From my perspective, 9 trumps everything else.

That is probably what he deals with every day.  No one taking him seriously because he is 9.  Not many 9 year olds know where Syria is, let alone who Assad is.  Heck, not many adults in this country know that.  He sounds like a kid.  And he has some really exceptional abilities.  I guess I was impressed with how relatable he seems.

[lewelma]

I guess I wonder about the press. We avoided it like the plague. I had one bad experience when my son was doing his first science fair project at age 6 on mushrooms, and the reporter seems so keen and nice. But then she realized my son was homeschooled, and started looking for an 'angle'. I told her I would need to see the article before it was printed, and she said no. So we withdrew. How does the press help this boy?  He seems very adjusted to his intelligent and for that I praise the parents as it is not an easy thing to accomplish especially when a kid is in school. But why put him out there?   

[SeaConquest]

I guess I thought it was lovely that people did take him seriously. I found it sweet, and related to much of what he wrote, having my own 9 year old. Mine isn't PG, but I still found the contrasts and asynchrony charming.

[Jackie]

While I wouldn’t hand my kid most the books mentioned in the article, neither would I take them out of her hands. I’m grateful that she has little interest in things I feel would be out of her depth. 

I did enjoy the article and showed it to my 8 year old as a great example of an engaging personal narrative. 😉

[gstharr]

9 hours ago, mathnerd said:

This is not unusual in my neck of the woods where there are extremely advanced and accomplished kids for their chronological age. I live on the same street as a 10 year old who is reading War and Peace for fun, is accomplished in both the cello and the violin, is taking tutoring classes from a professor on topics such as Ergodic Theory, Dirichlet's theorem for enrichment as regular math track is "boring" (has finished a lot of the school sequence of mathematics, if not all topics), has programmed 2 apps that has almost 2000 users combined, speaks 4 languages and studies Latin and Greek in addition (wins prizes in national level Latin contests) and also is an accomplished ice hockey player and there is absolutely no way I would know about these things if I did not have direct conversations with him about what he is doing. He has 2 siblings who are, equally, if not more accomplished. 

This is not unusual in certain circles of Exceptionally Gifted kids in the suburban US.

Your neighbor kid is exceptionally accomplished.  The kid in the article is not. 

[mumto2]

I have to admit Game of Thrones made me pause....as in I am not ready for that book. 😉.  If the parents had no idea of content then it wouldn’t be stopped.  It sounds like work to stay one step ahead of that boy who has lots of outside influences.  I do think the parents are doing their best with an extremely bright kid. 

[8filltheheart]

10 hours ago, dirty ethel rackham said:

 That is probably what he deals with every day.  No one taking him seriously because he is 9.  Not many 9 year olds know where Syria is, let alone who Assad is.  Heck, not many adults in this country know that.  He sounds like a kid.  And he has some really exceptional abilities.  I guess I was impressed with how relatable he seems.

My post has absolutely nothing to do with taking him seriously or not because he is 9.  It was simply pointing out that I don't find the article representative of a scenario that I personally find laudable. Their life; their choices. It isn't bashing his parents  It means that as an outsider I read the article and did not agree with the choices being presented.  Being PG does not mean childhood innocence should skipped over and that they should be immediately immersed in adult themes without pause. 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by 8FillTheHeart

[gstharr]

11 hours ago, dirty ethel rackham said:

Did you read the article to the end?  His parents forced him to take Intro to Algebra, even though he tested into Calculus.  He was doing Linear Algebra on his own.  I think he did write it. It sounds like most of the profoundly gifted kids I have met.  

I

Did you read the article critically.  This is a fluff piece by the HuffPost. Everything is stretched to make the kid seem far more impressive than he really is.  The kid's certification is that he became a Davidson Young Scholars.  That he was learning Linear concepts, before ever studying algebra-- not that he mastered/completed linear alg.  Like, I was learning cardiac surgery concepts w/o ever going to med school because I watched Kahn videos or the Discovery Channel. Then he took some unidentified assessment that states he is ready for calculus--not that he has skipped the math sequences and is now taking calculus.  Critical reading is another skill he should acquire by the end of elementary school.

[SeaConquest]

Wow, tough crowd.

I probably wouldn't let Sacha read (or watch) Game of Thrones at nine, but just learning about Fortnite yesterday? I wouldn't say that's exactly mainstream American parenting. (And, no, Sacha doesn't play Fortnite, but to not even know what it is seems pretty out of touch with what most 9 year olds are doing today, IMO.)

[8filltheheart]

30 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

Wow, tough crowd.

I probably wouldn't let Sacha read (or watch) Game of Thrones at nine, but just learning about Fortnite yesterday? I wouldn't say that's exactly mainstream American parenting. (And, no, Sacha doesn't play Fortnite, but to not even know what it is seems pretty out of touch with what most 9 year olds are doing today, IMO.)

Not really.  If you aren't into gaming (which no one in our household is other than our Aspie), gaming just isn't something that is ever discussed.  

[shawthorne44]

15 hours ago, dirty ethel rackham said:

Did you read the article to the end?  His parents forced him to take Intro to Algebra, even though he tested into Calculus.  He was doing Linear Algebra on his own.  I think he did write it. It sounds like most of the profoundly gifted kids I have met.  

I'm sure his parents regretted that choice.  I wasn't one to make a big deal out of censoring my kids reading, but it was hard to find challenging reading material for my precocious reader.  I often found out that he read certain "mature" things well after the fact.  Since this kid is very aware of politics and current events, he doesn't sound like it phased him much.  Some kids are just like that.  They can be dispassionate about certain things that others find horrifying.  

That is probably what he deals with every day.  No one taking him seriously because he is 9.  Not many 9 year olds know where Syria is, let alone who Assad is.  Heck, not many adults in this country know that.  He sounds like a kid.  And he has some really exceptional abilities.  I guess I was impressed with how relatable he seems.

I probably could have been this kid.   In fact, I have become a recent fan of youth books since I totally skipped over them when I was a youth.  e.g.  Anna Karanina at 8 and my reading list was books with Cliff's Notes.  At his age, I'd gotten my mom to buy a textbook on logic at the used bookstore we loved.   At first I thought it was so nice of someone to write these things down to explain them to kids.   Then I learned it was a college textbook.   I applied what I learned in that book to The Prince and Das Capital.   The first was depressingly hard to find an error and the second was laughingly easy.   I found both so discouraging that I never did that again.  As a < 16-year-old teenager I walked 3 miles to the college bookstore and spent many happy summer afternoons there reading random books.  I found it very frustrating when people didn't take me seriously.   Whenever I could, I would do things over the phone because then people would listen to me.  

eta:  I have a theory that sometimes kids can handle things better when they are this age.   They have enough knowledge to not be confused, but still young enough to have that brutality that kids seem to have.   For example, here a long time ago, I warned someone that they might not want their kid to read Grimm tales in the original version.   For example, Cinderella's stepsisters cut off either their own toes or heel in order to fit into the slipper.  Someone said that they asked their kids what they would think of that version of the story and the response was something like, "Cool".   Kids were around 9.   I know I turned much more sensitive when puberty hit.  

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by shawthorne44

[SeaConquest]

Just now, 8FillTheHeart said:

Not really.  If you aren't into gaming (which no one in our household is other than our Aspie), gaming just isn't something that is ever discussed.  

 

I get it. But, no offense, because you know I pink puffy ❤️ you, but you kinda have to be living under a rock to miss hearing about Fortnite in mass culture. It's seriously everywhere. This was a sign on a middle school last August.

https://www.metrotimes.com/the-scene/archives/2018/08/31/michigan-school-sign-calls-for-fortnight-detox 

[8filltheheart]

54 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

 

I get it. But, no offense, because you know I pink puffy ❤️ you, but you kinda have to be living under a rock to miss hearing about Fortnite in mass culture. It's seriously everywhere. This was a sign on a middle school last August.

https://www.metrotimes.com/the-scene/archives/2018/08/31/michigan-school-sign-calls-for-fortnight-detox 

Middle school or mass pop culture is not something I care anything about. 😉 Like I stated above, it isn't a commentary on those parents, but my gut response to the fact that he does not emulate a lifestyle I would want for my kids (and gaming was the least of the things just one of many things in the article that I wouldn't want my 9 yr old doing.) 

(puffy ❤️you back 🙂)

Edited January 17, 2019 by 8FillTheHeart

[Sarah0000]

This is the first I've heard of Fortnite and we are gamers here, but no middle schoolers.

[mathnerd]

No fortnite in our house, either (and no, we do not live in a hole in the ground, Hobbit style, rather, we live on the cutting edge world of tech and are not averse to gaming and tech 😉 ). No discord app for socialization purposes for my kid either.

Edited January 17, 2019 by mathnerd

[Rush]

I read this article the other day and I love this boy and his personalities. Amazing chup! I m planning to give it to my eldest kid to read and he will definitely enjoy it as much as me🤗

[laundrycrisis]

On 1/16/2019 at 12:35 PM, RoundAbout said:

I can't get over that someone would let their 9 year-old read Game of Thrones, however gifted. There is explicit sexual and other violence in those books and I have a few adult friends who struggle with the content. 

 I remember reading East of Eden on a road trip when I was eight.  My mom finally noticed what I was reading and said maybe no .. I said too late, one chapter left 🤷‍♀️ I read a lot of adult books at that age.  Now I’m middle aged and read mostly teen sci fi 😆 

[Rush]

12 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

 

I get it. But, no offense, because you know I pink puffy ❤️ you, but you kinda have to be living under a rock to miss hearing about Fortnite in mass culture. It's seriously everywhere. This was a sign on a middle school last August.

https://www.metrotimes.com/the-scene/archives/2018/08/31/michigan-school-sign-calls-for-fortnight-detox 

I got to know about Fortnite last week. My kids told me everythinng, but before I opened my mouth they added that they are not fans of it. What a relief!🤣

[Wheres Toto]

My younger kids are definitely gamers and I have heard of Fortnite but neither of them like it.  They think it's stupid (too random?).

I'm not sure what to think about the article.  It came across arrogant but that may just be that the kid is 9, the sentences fairly short, he was writing about himself, and I'm reading it first thing in the morning.

I very very rarely censor what my kids read but I would definitely hesitate with Game of Thrones and 1984. 

[Andromeda]

To me this article reads true - that it was written by the child, although probably edited rather heavily.

I say this because many things he said rang 100% true for me - I was this kid, although I was pushed down and ignored by family (intellectually). I was reading Guy de Mopaussant for fun at 8, and War and Peace at 9, etc. I was just done with children's books. I didn't have access to anything like Game of Thrones in terms of sex and violence (and would have had no interest anyway), but many older books (18 century through early 20 century) I had on hand did not gloss over war, poverty, or violence.

I am happy that his family is generally supportive. I say "generally" because he is given at least some resources to thrive such as access to Khan Academy and other materials. I had to fight my family for good, real books on science, history, mythology, geography, etc. I made friends with the school librarian who held back real books for me and read them in secret from my family. When I told my 3rd grade teacher that I read all the books we had at home, and she told this to my mother, my mother proceeded to yell at me that I should not embarrass her like that again. So I learned to exchange books with teachers quietly. I was offered a place in a special school (math and science centered), which was by invitation only, and my family refused to let me attend. This is just a small sampling of things that happened.

If this child says that he would much rather take Calculus than Algebra, I believe him, or would like to believe him, because I had to suffer through classes I could have tested out of (supported by teachers, but denied by my family).

 

[shawthorne44]

 

RosemaryAndThyme, I suspect that those of us that had that experience (or similar) as a kid are a) much more likely to homeschool our kids if at all possible and b) end up here when/if we do.   

Mine was similar except that it was the teachers/school librarian squashing me and my mom buying books.  Her rule to limit my books a) Library books had to be carried in one trip, creative stacking allowed, b) used books - one hand-carry shopping basket, c) new books - carried in one hand no creative stacking allowed.   

 

[Andromeda]

3 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

 

RosemaryAndThyme, I suspect that those of us that had that experience (or similar) as a kid are a) much more likely to homeschool our kids if at all possible and b) end up here when/if we do.   

Mine was similar except that it was the teachers/school librarian squashing me and my mom buying books.  Her rule to limit my books a) Library books had to be carried in one trip, creative stacking allowed, b) used books - one hand-carry shopping basket, c) new books - carried in one hand no creative stacking allowed.   

 

Thank you. Your kind words mean a lot to me. I struggled before posting this because I didn't want to come across as bragging myself.

It feels good to have a safe place to talk about asynchronous/accelerated issues  and triumphs because I really can't talk about it anywhere else.

[drjuliadc]

I really liked the article, but I don’t know anything about Game of Thrones or enough about Fortnight for any alarms to go off. He seems to be having fun and what he is doing sounds like fun to me too.  You can “play” with linear algebra too.

I only learned about fortnight this summer from a family we vacation with who are homeschoolers.  Haha.  My kids go to public school.  But their kids are much older than mine.  My oldest is 7 and their youngest is in high school.

For me, I would have loved to be exposed to advanced academics earlier than I was.  I was really upset when I got to high school math and it finally got exciting.  I was so miffed that I just spent 8 long sluggish years on arithmetic that I understood instantly, and we were just now getting to higher math. I’m not profoundly gifted either.  I wouldn’t have been capable of what he is doing at his age.

My example is a little extreme because I’m 53.  It is much better now and concepts are being taught earlier than they were in the 1970’s. There weren’t any gifted programs back then either.

My philosophy is not the opposite of 8’s because I love play, but it kind of is because I love to play with academics.

I’m so glad there are outlets and opportunities for someone like this boy. 

 

[Guest]

My only concern is that while at 9 he may enjoy the publicity, he may not appreciate being quite so well known when he’s older. 

And as as a parent, you do what you can do. DD lucked into amazing mentoring and support that let her pursue her interests, so she didn’t need to accelerate quite as globally-and when she started college classes, did so for social reasons. But had she not had that, I could easily have seen us taking this path simply that was what was available, with the idea that “it works for now, we’ll worry about the future later” 

[Cake and Pi]

I enjoyed the article. 

 

I think it's a little harsh to doubt that this kid wrote the essay himself. It reads just like something my non-PG 10yo would write, only with different experiences, after using spell check and an adult flagging punctuation and capitalization mistakes. It doesn't seem the least bit far fetched to me for a PG 9yo to have written it.

 

And I'm just going to throw out there that my 9yo public schooler has never played or watched Fortnight, but he knows all the dance moves. All the kids in his 4th grade class seem to know the dances. They learn them from each other. 

Also, on the topic of this kid's reading list, a young person without the life experiences to put adult themes into context can blow right through all sorts of topics that would be difficult for an older person who really understands the full meaning of what they're reading. I read Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and The Witching Hour series along with Jean M. Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear series and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth at 11yo. Those are full of super adult themes -- child-rape, violence, incest, homosexuality, disturbing supernatural stuff, murder, executions, etc. It didn't phase me at all. I reread them in my 20s and was shocked that my mother let me read them as a child and that none of those disturbing themes bothered me the first time through.  

 

I remember loving The Giving Tree as a little kid, but now I can't get through it without crying. Heck, I often cry just reading our history books now! Meanwhile, my 7yo and 10yo are able to read about families being torn apart by slavery, ethnic groups being systematically murdered, poor people starving to death while the rich enjoy extreme excess, animals being hunted to extinction and left rotting on the plains, etc. without batting an eye. To them it's just bad stuff that happened long ago. There's nothing frightening or upsetting about it to them because they lack life experience and context. They are truly unable to empathize with much of the content.

 

Jus' say'n...

[Condessa]

On 1/17/2019 at 11:07 AM, SeaConquest said:

 

I get it. But, no offense, because you know I pink puffy ❤️ you, but you kinda have to be living under a rock to miss hearing about Fortnite in mass culture. It's seriously everywhere. This was a sign on a middle school last August.

https://www.metrotimes.com/the-scene/archives/2018/08/31/michigan-school-sign-calls-for-fortnight-detox 

 

I have never heard of Fortnite before.

 

[SeaConquest]

1 hour ago, Michelle Conde said:

 

I have never heard of Fortnite before.

 

 

And that's cool and all, but it really was kinda everywhere in 2018 pop culture (Ever heard of flossing? Again, everywhere), particularly among the middle school crowd. 

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/how-fortnite-became-the-most-popular-video-game-on-earth.html

[Condessa]

3 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

 

And that's cool and all, but it really was kinda everywhere in 2018 pop culture (Ever heard of flossing? Again, everywhere), particularly among the middle school crowd. 

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/how-fortnite-became-the-most-popular-video-game-on-earth.html

 

Here's where I sheepishly admit that I had never heard of flossing, either.  But then, I've never been big on popular culture, and especially not middle school pop culture.  I did my best to avoid it when I was in middle school.  And my kids are homeschooled.  :)

[SeaConquest]

8 hours ago, Michelle Conde said:

 

Here's where I sheepishly admit that I had never heard of flossing, either.  But then, I've never been big on popular culture, and especially not middle school pop culture.  I did my best to avoid it when I was in middle school.  And my kids are homeschooled.  🙂

 

No need to feel sheepish. I think a lot [most?] of the people on this board fall into that category.

What I found particularly endearing about this kid was that he seemed so utterly normal to me, other than the whole, you know, PG and taking college classes at 9 part. And I think that probably says more about me on this board than Fortnight/Flossing says anything about you because I was the kid who was into pop culture growing up, who liked fashion, and teen idols, and makeup, and cheerleading, and so desperately wanted to be popular and feel normal, even though people were always reminding me that, on some level, I wasn't normal. 

So, I really related to this kid's desire to do normal (read: popular) kid things like play Fortnight. 🙂 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, SeaConquest said:

 

No need to feel sheepish. I think a lot [most?] of the people on this board fall into that category.

What I found particularly endearing about this kid was that he seemed so utterly normal to me, other than the whole, you know, PG and taking college classes at 9 part. And I think that probably says more about me on this board than Fortnight/Flossing says anything about you because I was the kid who was into pop culture growing up, who liked fashion, and teen idols, and makeup, and cheerleading, and so desperately wanted to be popular and feel normal, even though people were always reminding me that, on some level, I wasn't normal. 

So, I really related to this kid's desire to do normal (read: popular) kid things like play Fortnight. 🙂 

 

One of the the things I love most about going to programs designed for PG kids is that, when you take away that primary “difference”, they’re just normal kids. There’s a lot more discussion of dance moves, Pokémon, video games, etc than discussion of high level math concepts. 

DD really wants to be accepted, and just be a normal kid. I think that’s why she values cheer so much. It’s her “socially normative physical activity”-and the more relaxed she gets in the setting, the more “socially normal” she looks. Plus multicolored hair and elaborate fingernails. And Pokémon.

Sometimes, it’s hard to see her as the same kid who is so passionate about some of her other academic topics and sounds like a grad student.

Edited February 17, 2019 by dmmetler

[sweet2ndchance]

I'll add in that we are gamers and while I've heard of Fortnite, I only have a cursory knowledge of the game because it is not a genre of game that any of us are interested in, middle schoolers included. Same with Pokemon. My kids and my husband all have varying levels of obsession with Pokemon but it just truly does not interest me so other than overhearing a little here and there, I am blissfully unaware of much else about it.

I knew I was different too growing up and felt like adults didn't understand me and I couldn't relate with kids my age. I still struggle with it honestly. I remember going through a brief period of trying to figure out pop culture and why these things interested my classmates but I didn't ever figure it out, lol. It all just seemed so inanely boring to me no matter how I tried to look at it. Probably much the same way my classmates thought of my interests lol. I also remember, just as the boy who wrote the article describes, being told what to say and what to think and even more so what not to say. Not being as extroverted as the child in the article, I just retreated to my books and elaborate self-initiated projects. If the internet had been around when I was a child, I probably would have spent hours learning everything I could as well.

Personally, I think the child did write the article. The asynchronous mix of child-like writing and thought process and the little spurts of insight just cannot be easily replicated by a non-PG adult.

[cjzimmer1]

I have my own PG child and yeah this sounds like a very typical PG kid.  I do believe he wrote the article.  My DH went back to college as an adult and was taking an algebra course.  My 7 year old PG kid leaned over DH's shoulder and told him how to do the problem that DH was stuck on.  DS had never seen an algebra book.  Testing revealed his math intuitiveness carried him into the Algebra II level (it may have been higher but that was as far as the testing went).  

We ran into lots of people not believing that a young child could truly understand material at such a young age and when given proof would still spit and sputter and stammer about how DS couldn't possibly really be doing whatever the topic was.  I think if you don't have close personal experience with a PG kid it's really easy to doubt their abilities because it's just so far outside the realm of "normal" that it seems like it must be made up or being "helped" by parents.  We were told that kids like my DS are about 1 in 10,000 and frankly there are a whole lot of PG kids that are way above DS which makes them even rarer.  So the great majority of people have probably never really encountered this level of ability firsthand.  It's easy to understand their skepticism. 

As far as the reading and pop culture stuff goes count my family as another who has no interest/knowledge of it.  The world is full of so much more interesting factual information I just can't relate to wanting to waste time on something as superficial and fickle as pop culture. But hey if you are into that kind stuff, go enjoy, it doesn't bother me as long as you can respect my desire not to.

[SeaConquest]

Follow up video:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meet-kairan-the-10-year-old-college-student_n_5cd48ddfe4b0f81adf4cc2bb

By happenstance, I'm now FB friends with his mother and hope that S and her son will get to become friends.  

[Korrale]

A 9 turning 10 year old would have been in 4th grade when this article was written.  California, and most of the US states have fall cut off dates. Usually most school districts prefer the kids to have had their birthdays before the school year starts. Which can vary from August to September.  Very few places have December cut off dates.  California used to. But that would have been right before this child entered school there. 

[SeaConquest]

When I was a kid, December 1st was the cutoff, but September 1st is what SD Unified uses and I think that is pretty typical.