Prodigies and geniuses

I found an interesting story on Yahoo today about a 13 year old young man, Colin Carlson, who is attending the University of Connecticut. He is doing well in his ecology and environmental studies with a 3.9 GPA (good by any standard) and plans on attending graduate school later in his teens. Obviously, he has an IQ at genius level. These types of individuals are rare and I am guessing his IQ approaches the off the charts level of 200 even at his young age. Many psychological studies have been performed on these types of individuals.

It appears as if our young protege is having problems completing his degree though. He is required to take a course in South Africa and UConn is not allowing him to attend due to safety reasons associated with his age (remember he is barely a teenager). The universities official line is,

Michael Kirk, a spokesman for UConn, would not comment on Colin's case. But he said that generally, safety is the university's first concern when travel is involved.

In true American fashion, the young teenager's mother responds with a lawsuit claiming age discrimination.

He and his mother say university officials told them he is too young for the overseas course. So he's filed an age discrimination claim with the university and U.S. Department of Education, which is investigating.

Finally, to top off these unusual circumstances the young prodigy claims,

"I'm losing time in my four-year plan for college," he said. "They're upsetting the framework of one of my majors."

The article goes on to mention he graduated from a high school curriculum at age 11 and how he felt out of place at school with pupils his own age. Yes, someone that smart would have trouble functioning in middle school where the rest of his cohort currently resides. I do believe we should allow students who are far ahead of their peers to skip a few grades. This case is a little extreme though.

IQ is just one measure of capability. It measure how well an individual solves a certain kind of problem. The test fails to measure other factors that lead to success like hard work, people skills and dedication. These skills develop over time resulting in a successful, mature person. This kid may be intellectually capable, but he will not be mature enough to deal with the kind of work a Ph D performs at only 22. I was considered a young Ph D when graduating at 29. The 7 years of living after 22 rounded out my general knowledge of the world. I fear this prodigy is going to end up as a puppet for some cruel entity wasting away his talent. This even does not touch on the simple concept of doing things that a teenager and young adult does at those ages. No prom, dates or other normal youth activities for him.

Finally, universities should put age limits on full time students. I would guess that 15 or 16 would be appropriate. That would stop these weird situations from appearing. UConn was right in not allowing the genius to travel to a dangerous country like South Africa. UConn was wrong in allowing him to be a full time student on track for a degree.