| General > General Technical Chat |
| Belgian boy Laurent Simons heads off to university aged 8. |
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| maginnovision:
I wouldn't even count on the eevblog being around by time you know what kind of father you are(were) so good luck to you. Just do your best. |
| sokoloff:
--- Quote from: Black Phoenix on November 19, 2019, 06:34:39 am ---Now you ask, what kind of talent then the kid have if you don't make him try new things? How about let him try things and see what he really likes to do. If he doesn't like, let him go and try a new thing. Naturally he will find something he likes and wants to keep doing. --- End quote --- I think you still want to exercise some guidance as a parent (and it’s well within your “right” to do so). Unconstrained, kids will find they love TV, Doritos, YouTube, iPad games, and Fortnite. Just like we make them eat vegetables, we should make them try a variety of healthful and engaging activities. But yes, no sense forcing a fish to ride a bicycle. (But you can force them to try and later to try swimming.) --- Quote from: Black Phoenix on November 19, 2019, 06:34:39 am ---Competition in every scope and activity is super fierce, kids nowardays should go with the mentality that yes, they can be very good in a field, but that doesn't mean that others will not be as good or better. Then it's up to them if they want to keep trying and improve or if they will hit a wall that they can't climb. There should not be a shame into fail, the shame is to not even try. --- End quote --- Absolutely this. Imagine that there are 100 million people the same age as you or your child. If a school you want to get into accepts 1000 per year, the general odds are 1 in 100 thousand. Maybe you have a 10:1 advantage by circumstance of birth, but you’re still a 10000:1 shot the day you’re born. Way better chances than a lottery, but still an interesting mix of simultaneously a long shot but a reasonable one to contemplate making. As above, you want to find the thing you love and have skills at, not only because it’s much easier to make the top 1% of 1% of things you love doing, but much more importantly, that you’ll enjoy your orbits of the nearby star a lot more whether or not you make even the top 10% of the field. |
| Kjelt:
--- Quote from: EEVblog on November 18, 2019, 11:16:20 pm ---Bingo. And how many people "make it"? --- End quote --- True, but if you don't try or get the chance to try you are sure you will not make it. The whole point here is if Laurent is pushed against his will and interest into this endeavour, right? It sure does not look like that from what I can read about it. So if your son would solve university math equations at age5 and ask you that he likes to learn more, would you say no? Here is a ball go outside and play with the other kids ? Which is a totally different story than forcing a kid to learn university math because you want him to. |
| EEVblog:
--- Quote from: Kjelt on November 19, 2019, 11:02:28 am ---So if your son would solve university math equations at age5 and ask you that he likes to learn more, would you say no? --- End quote --- No normal child is doing university level math at age 5. They would only be doing that because their parents pushed them to. They might still enjoy it of course, but no 5yo kid is going to give a natural rats arse about solving integrals. |
| VK3DRB:
--- Quote from: sokoloff on November 19, 2019, 10:22:24 am ---As above, you want to find the thing you love and have skills at, not only because it’s much easier to make the top 1% of 1% of things you love doing, but much more importantly, that you’ll enjoy your orbits of the nearby star a lot more whether or not you make even the top 10% of the field. --- End quote --- Absolutely :-+. One volunteer is worth ten conscripts. I once was invited to give a talk to the Chinese Professional Society on educating kids effectively. I had also given the same talk to two other large groups. During the talk, a summary of what I said was: 1. Don't pressure your kids to compete for marks - just tell them that you expect them to do THEIR best and nothing more. 2. Do not give them tangible rewards or punishment based on specific marks. It is tantamount to bribery. 3. Give the kids space in their senior high school to hang out with friends, participate in a hobby, church, music, sport, ironing the clothes whilst watching TV, or whatever that has nothing to do with study. 4. Do NOT push them into doing medicine because YOU want them to do that even though they might not be interested. Don't have them follow the money, or "prestige" because you get to save face. Let them do a course of study for a profession THEY are interested in and have a talent to pursue. 5. Why I believe private schools are waste of money. 6. Support and encourage your kids, but don't over-control them. LISTEN to your kids. I gave examples of horror stories I had witnessed. Also I demonstrated implementing the above where my three kids excelled academically and earned their degrees/Masters/PhD's in areas that interested them and all went on to fulfilling careers. I have seen far too many people pushed into engineering by their parents or culture, but they just see it as a job and nothing more and are not happy - some retrain for something they enjoy doing. I expected my talk to upset a few in the audience and not see many happy faces at the end. To my surprise, they all applauded and one couple came up to me thanking me profusely. The society later sent me a certificate of appreciation. It made my day. |
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