Kids being pushed too fast?

Question

Do you think that kids who inter college at ages as young as 12 are missing out on their childhood.

Answer 1

I'd have that rather than the other extremity.

Answer 2

Yes, I think that most kids who enter college at ages as young as 12 are missing out on their childhood. Childhood and being able to play and enjoy childhood are important for their development and well-being. Thrust a child into an adult world of college filled with the associated pressures, and you're forcing them to miss out on the only time in their lives when it is acceptable anymore to be carefree, and play, and be imaginative, and curious.

However, I do also believe there has got to be a way for the child to be academically challenged and to progress while still feeling secure and being able to enjoy the follies of their youth.

Answer 3

Missing out on what? There is no such thing as childhood anymore. Our K-4 grade school has secuity police and metal detectors with visitor sign in and passes that if you dont have, you are escorted immediately out of the school no questions asked. we give our children over to the lowest bidder at the age of 6 weeks (daycare) and rush off to work hoping for the best and at age 10 or 12 or whatever look around at the community and the world and wonder what the heck--how could our children turn out this way! You pay one person not nearly enough money and demand them to teach and care for your child along with 25 or so others with little or no involvement on parents side and then cant figure out why they act the way they do.....I say if you have kids who are ready for the educational level that a college can provide, I see no reason for them to miss out on that opportunity

Answer 4

Of Course!!!!! There certainly can be something else the kid can do to increase his knowledge until he gets a little older and more mature. A 12 year old hanging out with college kids is way over the top. What college kids would want to hang out w/a 12 year old anyway? I know I wouldn't have wanted to when I was in college. That would have been a little weird.

Answer 5

I don't think we know enough about any one given family with a child who enters college at a young age like this to be able to judge whether he is missing out on his childhood. College does take up a chunk of time, but if this particular child is saying how easy the classes are, then odds are he is finishing any homework/outside projects in very short time periods, and is able to have as much free time as he wants. Then it is his family and himself who decide what he does with that time. How do we know that he doesn't have a friend who lives next door that they both go out and throw a ball? Or that his family doesn't take him to a place like the Y to participate in sports? Or heck, even sit down and play board games???? It becomes easy for us to project our own lives onto those we see in the news and yet odds are that they are doing the best they can with what they've got, and in this case, they've got a whiz of a kid.

Answer 6

I felt a huge difference going to college at 17, all my friends at 18 were out drinking and I wasn't old enough, at 12 you've got no chance. You'd become a total outsider, no friends, or not ones you could go out with anyway. It's not fair on the kids. Plus when they graduate will they even be old enough to work? Your only a kid for a tiny part of your life though I never believed it till it was too late. Let kids be kids, college is for young adults.

Answer 7

Hmm.. This is a good Q.. I would say both yes and no.. Because those do miss out on their childhood and they are kids no matter how smart they are.. It's not like they are adults. But like another Answerer said, those kids are on a different level than the other "normal"kids.. It's a tough decision.

Answer 8

Kids who enter college at 12 on a different level than the rest of us.
I do not think that in most cases those kids perceive that as being the case. I think they are happier where they can expand themselves intellectually. Parents should still remember that they are 12 and not leave them completely independant, but I don't think they are missing out on anything.

Answer 9

Definitely, I think even kids who enter college at 18 are missing out on their childhood. Society is forcing children to grow up at an alarming rate, and all the irresponsible parents of the world are letting it happen, how sad!

Answer 10

intellect really has very little to do with my reasons for not wanting a 12 year old in college, at 12 a child isnt mature enough mentally to be in with college age "kids" it can lead to some disasterous problems, and they are faced with alot of things they wouldnt normally be faced with until later in life if they stayed with their own peers. but at the same time, i wouldnt want to hinder a childs learning abilities and opportunities, so it would be an almost impossible decision to make. socially i dont think its right, id try to find my child some alternative learning methods until she was older.

Answer 11

I see kids in kindergarten who are missing out on their childhood.

Not as much because of the age, but because of the expectations put on them.

I have a kid who we probably could have streamlined into college that early. He choose not to - he wanted to attend classes with other kids his own age.

The biggest problem has been trying to get the schools to teach to his level - instead, he sits in classes oriented for the lowest common denominator (at least in some cases) .

I don't see a problem for a student who is bright to be given lots of opportunities to learn. It might be better for them to get those opportunities with private tutors than to push them into college, etc. though.