Getting bumped ahead in school

[Montresor]

You see it in fiction a lot, but how often does it really happen?

16 year old college grads .... not likely

16 year old high school grads ..... still not likely, but what do you think? 1 in 500?

I've seen enough kids who were held back. I know adults now, who were held back as kids, or put in special classes. Does the bias dissolve away in time?

I know some adults, (one very old) who were bumped ahead. They don't seem special.

Were you bumped ahead in school?
Tell about the experience.


What happens in post-secondary to people who were accelerated?
How does it translate through to the workforce?

 

[Pyropyro]

No idea about the odds but they definitely appear here in our place
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikaela_Fudolig

I'm just one year ahead of my peers but I recall getting bored at elementary class. My constant lack of attention but with the ability to answer my teacher's questions forced her to send me to classes with guys two years older than me (and I was still bored...). She's fond of me though.

 

[TimeAsylums]

You see it in fiction a lot, but how often does it really happen?

16 year old college grads .... not likely

16 year old high school grads ..... still not likely, but what do you think? 1 in 500?

I've seen enough kids who were held back. I know adults now, who were held back as kids, or put in special classes. Does the bias dissolve away in time?

I know some adults, (one very old) who were bumped ahead. They don't seem special.

Were you bumped ahead in school?
Tell about the experience.


What happens in post-secondary to people who were accelerated?
How does it translate through to the workforce?

I've known a few.
Often there are high IQ students who bypass it all (albeit some also being held back etc)
Some just want to get through it/are tired of it
I wanted to take summer classes all of HS so I could grad early, bc besides social interaction (NeFe) it was boring as fuck, however my family moved around a lot, so damn. But anyway, i don't think there are enough who jump to make a difference (toll in the workforce), those who do jump either already have a plan or are going onto something bigger.

 

[DelusiveNinja]

I think it depends on how fortunate and patient the student is, if his/her parents are strict about his/her education, and if the student has access to large amounts of information and the desire to use them to gain knowledge (libraries, top notch professors/ tutors). Regardless, someone in this picture will have to be serious about getting an education if not the parents the student, vice versa, and both.

If the student is rich he may be automatically be given the large amounts of information needed to obtain a higher education but the student may not be interested in learning these things. If the parents force the student to take AP classes, partake in dual enrollment classes during high-school, and always attend summer school or some learning program during the summer, s/he may be ahead but when given a little autonomy at age 18 in college to choose what s/he majors in, the student might choose something a little less academic like the arts or sports.

Lastly, if the student actually seeks out information, challenges, and competence with out the other two factors supporting him/her, s/he will slowly but surely get the knowledge s/he desire. I think all factors together make these high school graduates possible but a low chance. Who's going to have money, a hunger for knowledge and intellectual challenges, and strict parents who think knowledge is everything all at the same time? Sounds like a wealthy INTP family to me . What are the odds of that happening?

 

[Coolydudey]

Finished school at 16, no home schooling. Still ******* boring though. What's interesting is that I never noticed the up to two year age difference with all the rest of the kids in my class. It came naturally, and I was (almost) as mature as they were. There is simply nothing special about it. If it were another couple of years, that'd be different, but I'm pretty sure I still could have (perhaps with difficulty) pulled the material off.

 

[Montresor]

Finished school at 16, no home schooling. Still ******* boring though. What's interesting is that I never noticed the up to two year age difference with all the rest of the kids in my class. It came naturally, and I was (almost) as mature as they were. There is simply nothing special about it. If it were another couple of years, that'd be different, but I'm pretty sure I still could have (perhaps with difficulty) pulled the material off.

Then how did you fare through university and into the workforce?

 

[Coolydudey]

Then how did you fare through university and into the workforce?

I'm not that old

 

[Deleted member 1424]

I was bumped around a lot.
I started early and skipped fifth grade. I was nine (and very small for my age) when I first went to middle school (6th grade) and the school had wanted to place me in 7th. I was constantly harassed, mostly due to racial tension. I was too young to handle it, became depressed, and basically mute. My parents eventually moved me to a tiny school and back to my original timeline so I'd be less vulnerable to my peers.

I had several other opportunities after that to skip ahead, but each time I was too afraid.

High school was, intellectually, a waste of time. If my education had been a little more efficient I think I would've easily graduated around 14-15. Maybe that would've been better for me, maybe worse. It's hard to say. I often wish I had gotten a better, less emotionally crippling, education.

 

[BloodCountess88]

I was bumped. I was in college at 16. You can take the exit exam in the US early to get your high school I know many that did.


I moved from Europe, so I was very ahead compared to the rest of the school. I was taking 18 classes a week (different subjects) between the conservatory and specialized high school compared to the 6-7 classes a week in the school I was in.

Also, I got my bachelor's when I was 20-21, I'm 24 going on 25 and working on my master's, but since I'm a full time mom I'm taking wayyy too long.


I have a photographic memory and a very fast learning ability though, I speak multiple languages (English being my 4th). I never had ESL classes, I was put into accelerated english right when I got here.


Regarding work place, it's extremely easy for me to find it. I started working at 15 at a crappy pizza place that did pizza tossing (and went into competitions), then I got offered a job tutoring Latin, then did banquets through college and worked on hotels, then got into the leather repair where I got offered a spot refinishing expensive hand bags, while there I got offered a high paying job, PR like where you travel with international customers and get them drunk and translate from different languages, but ended up declining because I got knocked up and my husband didn't want to be apart for that long.

The last work I did was for courts as a translator since I'm certified and the training for ABA.

 

[redbaron]

I started school a year younger than most, the whole process of school was such a drag for me. I was tired of the work we were given in class and wanted to move on, though this was generally discouraged. Not sure why really, but it made school really fucking boring.

I did get Dux of Mathematics in high school...such a joke. Apart from mental math I've lost most of what I learnt. Schooling in Australia is horrendous at all levels as well. I neglected to attend university and instead joined the workforce.

I'll probably attend university at some point in the future though, since I can't foresee myself maintaining indefinite interest in corporate bullshit...however fast I climb the ladder, there's still politics at every rung, and the mental stimulation only lasts insofar as there's things for me to analyse. Thankfully there's plenty of reports to sift through related to conversion efficiency, market status, sales trends and blah blah blah, though it's really just all bullshit designed to feed the machine of progress in the end.

Somewhat intellectually stimulating, yet boring at the same time knowing that all my analysis and findings ultimately result in is...more profit.

 

[Montresor]

I was skipped ahead in school too, (grade 2) but the thing is, that none of my peers ever were. At times it felt like I was the only kid in town who skipped a grade. So everybody was always one year older than me, and I couldn't really shake it off.

tbh it was weird for little league football too because I was the only 8th grader playing with the grades 6/7. They placed you by age with no exceptions.

I would have graduated HS at age 16 but for my year they randomly moved grad back 6 weeks (D'oH!) to the day after my birthday lol.

First year of Uni was kind of a joke because I was 17 so I really had no friends or lovers ; the legal age here is 18 for boozing, and I lived with my aunt.
Second year, I moved into residence. That was sweet.
Then I never actually graduated in my final year (2009 - age 21) so I am sans bachelor's after four years of study. Now I am in the workforce as a 1 "of a" million construction worker.

 

[Beat Mango]

I skipped year 3 and was still the smartest in the class

My parents made me repeat year 6 though because they thought I was too young for high school

 

[Lucifer van Satan]

You see it in fiction a lot, but how often does it really happen?

If you are more gifted than others (I live in Eastern Europe) you usually have special classes organized for you, for the sake of going to the competitions in the area you excel in. This happens especially in high school. If you are one of the most talented and successfully get through the qualifications, you will get opportunities to travel and compete in other countries (referring to problem-solving and research competitions). Being in a different continent in a place where you likely never would have been otherwise, and doing something productive for your future might turn out to be better than actually skipping grades.
It is very easy to get sucked into this world and basically preparations for these competitions are robbing you of the time required to skip grades. Also, if you skip some, you will lose opportunities to compete on the same level again.
This is only one example of how those with the most potential to skip grades actually don`t.

Source:
Personal experience and I know a lot of similar cases.

 

[ZenRaiden]

School was odd and still is odd social experience. I had not chance of getting bumped up, mostly just down, because of having C and D grades. Later on I started failing.

I suffer depression and psychosis.

My understanding of school is that if you want to really know something learn it alone and in your own time. I could never learn anything in school. Because they want to turn you basically in to a BorG

 

[Lucifer van Satan]

School was odd and still is odd social experience. I had not chance of getting bumped up, mostly just down, because of having C and D grades. Later on I started failing.

I suffer depression and psychosis.

My understanding of school is that if you want to really know something learn it alone and in your own time. I could never learn anything in school. Because they want to turn you basically in to a BorG

The school system most of us attend(ed) is made in 16th century, that is for that time and for the people of that time. We need modern, 21 century online classrooms, like Coursera, edX and Udacity to be more widely accepted. Or, at least, more focused educational system with smaller classrooms would do.
People with disorders and disabilities (along with more gifted people) tend to excel more in such environments.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

Were you bumped ahead in school?
Tell about the experience.


What happens in post-secondary to people who were accelerated?
How does it translate through to the workforce?

The obvious question: What if there were no summer breaks?

I think it can happen to perhaps 50% of students, actually. Normally advancement decisions aren't based on holistic assessment, so if instead a student is exposed to a curriculum that focuses on the requisites, then even the average Joe should even be able to finish early at 16. Of course faster learners would finish earlier.

One of the major flaws in the education system is that it assumes the most important variable that determines a student's cohort is age.



I was initially held back freshmen year in high school because I generally didn't give a hoot, got expelled twice, and then spent my sophomore year in mental rehab. I was supposed to re-enter as a sophomore but tested out and returned as a junior. To this day the highest math class I've ever completed is trig (or stats, if you want to count that). I learned calc on the fly while doing fieldwork. I did start a year early in kindergarten, to my parent's shouts of joy, I'm sure.

I doubt it really affects the workforce though, outside of <18 labor laws.

 

[BigApplePi]

Awful. I was bumped ahead from 4A to 5B wo my permission. I went from top of the class and hyperactive to bottom. Youngest in class. If I wasn't socially retarded before, I came out so after. The guys were bigger than I was and the girls snubbed me (or so I thought). Furthermore the teacher went from okay with me to strict and mean with all. I became afraid, shy and humbled.

I often wonder what would have happened to me had I not been skipped. Oddly enough same thing happened with my sister but as far as I know it didn't affect her.

 

[Rome96]

I was offered the opportunity to bump up twice, once at age 8, once at age 13. My dad said no. I think once at age 6 as well, I'm not sure on that one. I also started school a year earlier. Not sure how it affected me, really. I did get my ass handed to me a lot until my growth spurt kicked in. People thought I was strange, but they probably would've anyway. I was still the smartest person in class (everybody else was an idiot, not much of an accomplishment). I don't think it would've been that different getting bumped two additional times, I was reading on their level anyways. You don't really need to be that "special" I think, just have a higher attention span than the average 9 year old.. There are plenty of people here that seem to be more intelligent than I am, but I'm sure not all were offered the opportunity to get bumped ahead. To think, I could've been done with high school a year ago... *sigh*

The elephant will get me in a better mood.

 

[Montresor]

Hmm interesting. I sort of forgot about this thread.

It seems like way more people get bumped ahead than I initially figured. Possibly because until I hit my 20s I was the only one I knew of who had done-so.


Anyways if anybody is still interested I wouldn't mind steering this discussion towards the effects it has in the workplace. THD believes it does not have any but I think that retarded social development at a young age has far-reaching effects, maybe even life-long. Look at BAP!

For example, I was unable to party or drink or even visit the residence in my first year of University. I felt as if I fell a year behind again! The next year, when I moved into residence, where there is forced interaction with new inmates, I was actually younger than about half of them but more "senior" in terms of schooling, however on a level playing field when it came to sex and partying.

^ oh when I said "for example" I meant I was providing an example of retarded social development that stems directly from being bumped ahead, not an example of workplace effects.

 

[NullPointer]

Disclaimer: This doesn't pertain to the workplace at all.

I'm not sure we can judge whether or not it causes social development problems, not even with a huge sample. There may be a correlation, but correlation does not imply causality, and it's in my opinion equally plausible that the type of person who is brought forward a year is more likely to be the type of person who has social difficulty.

I wasn't ever actually brought forward a year (it was against the school's policy, and I'm not convinced it's a good idea anyway), but I did end up doing chemistry and physics a year early. Regarding the chemistry, that was the suggestion of my chemistry teacher (who was also dean of my year level), whereas the physics was the result of an interesting situation in which I faced the choice between not taking physics at all, or skipping forward a year (it's a timetabling thing). Anyway, it went pretty well, but in my final year of high school I was left with a void in my timetable since I'd already taken two of my preferred subjects in the year before. I ended up actually repeating chemistry to fill in the time.

My social awkwardness predates that, though.