I disagree that Raymond Zheng is necessarily friendless and lacks creativity. We don’t know enough about him to really say. In some ways, for him to go to college is like being home schooled – just because kids like him aren’t around their age peers all day in school, it doesn’t mean that they are necessarily maladjusted, just like you can’t say that all home schooled kids are going to be maladjusted. Also, I don’t think you can say that he is or is not creative. He treats computer programming as recreational play – and I’d have to say that programming can be play (I am revealing my own geek nature). Moreover, having him in a regular school and being painfully bored is dangerous also – boredom can get kids in trouble. Yan had some comments about some of those kids – they seem to reasonably adjusted, according to her.

I do agree with your assertion that an exclusive emphasis on mere knowledge acquisition that many Asian and Asian-Americans focus on is not healthy. I’d have to say that now, it is often a check list mentality, that includes activities that the parents think kids need to get into college as parents realize that kids can’t just do it all on grades (I talk about this in my recent basketball post). Get the high grades, do some sports, some other activities, etc., and the kid is going to Harvard. Passion, morals, or creativity not needed. Terrible way to think – especially since the more selective schools do look for passion.

I disagree that Raymond Zheng is necessarily friendless and lacks creativity. We don’t know enough about him to really say. In some ways, for him to go to college is like being home schooled – just because kids like him aren’t around their age peers all day in school, it doesn’t mean that they are necessarily maladjusted, just like you can’t say that all home schooled kids are going to be maladjusted. Also, I don’t think you can say that he is or is not creative. He treats computer programming as recreational play – and I’d have to say that programming can be play (I am revealing my own geek nature). Moreover, having him in a regular school and being painfully bored is dangerous also – boredom can get kids in trouble. Yan had some comments about some of those kids – they seem to reasonably adjusted, according to her.

I do agree with your assertion that an exclusive emphasis on mere knowledge acquisition that many Asian and Asian-Americans focus on is not healthy. I’d have to say that now, it is often a check list mentality, that includes activities that the parents think kids need to get into college as parents realize that kids can’t just do it all on grades (I talk about this in my recent basketball post). Get the high grades, do some sports, some other activities, etc., and the kid is going to Harvard. Passion, morals, or creativity not needed. Terrible way to think – especially since the more selective schools do look for passion.

I knew a kid who went to a pretty prestigious college at the age of 16 or so. skipping out a couple of grades in elementary school. Even then, you can kind of draw the comparisons between students who are 14, 16, or 18 and their respective social and creative development. IMO skipping grades will, save for a handful of rare cases, most likely be more detrimental than helpful to the overall development of an individual.

I knew a kid who went to a pretty prestigious college at the age of 16 or so. skipping out a couple of grades in elementary school. Even then, you can kind of draw the comparisons between students who are 14, 16, or 18 and their respective social and creative development. IMO skipping grades will, save for a handful of rare cases, most likely be more detrimental than helpful to the overall development of an individual.