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Prodigy, 13, claims age discrimination by UConn

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The Dhampy Summary (TM)

This kid, 13 years old, isn't allowed to go on a study trip to Africa because he's too young. He's saying it's age discrimination, the university is saying that they can't guarantee his safety because he's still a mere child. His motivation is a plan to have his PhD by age 22.

The Dhampy Commentary (TM)

Give me a freaking break. You're ****ing thirteen. No one but you cares that you want a billion degrees by age 22. Chances are, you'll have to redo your doctoral thesis half a dozen times anyway so Africa is the least of your concerns.

You are 13. You should not be traveling to Africa and especially not in a program intended to adult students.

Oh, you'll bring your mom? Really? This is so important to you that you are willing to upset the delicately planned affairs that study-abroad courses are?

You, kid, are a self-absorbed ****. Your apparent intelligence made your parents treated like a pet, not a child. You were the center of their world, and therefore you think you are the center of everyone's world. Well, prepare for a real shock because you won't get your PhD by age 22. You'll go to Africa and end up as a lobotomized sex slave in Leopoldville because you aren't mentally prepared or physically able to prevent your own kidnapping.

You need two things. One, a good beating as punishment. Two, to learn how to play a sport.

Also, since when is reading a kid's book like Harry Potter at age four an achievement? My parents had me reading Red Storm Rising and Hunt for Red October when I was four.

[Edited by Dhampy, 3/25/2010 11:47:15 PM]

Harry Potter is a big achievement by age 4, and if you say you'll reading Tom Clancy books by the time you were 4 I guess you were a super genius as well, most kids by that age have just learnt/learning there ABC's and at most reading books where a single page is taken up by The Boy Sat Down, with visual aids of a boy sitting down on the same page.

As for the kid, as much I personally would disagree with him going to South Africa and would NOT let him go if this was my kid, but I say "go for it, Don't let them tell you what you CAN'T do!"









[Edited by king-of-games, 3/26/2010 6:07:05 AM]

yea...u're right. personally if the kid wants a million Phd's by the time he's 22...go for it. the kid wants to go to Africa..i say go for it. kids today r very smart...my 5 year old son had been pestering me for a laptop well over a year ago..now he wants my PSP. with each new generation..kids r bound to get smarter. i was reading Isaac Asimov when i was 12 but my father wasn't when he was 12. so..Dhamps...do take it personally ..with each new generation..the IQ level is going to increase.

[Edited by saurabhfzd, 3/26/2010 12:54:34 AM]

We don't want him anyway, spoilt brat.

This is the problem with kids nowadays, they get rewarded for something good and then they think they are entitled to everything.

That kid needs to realise that he's not ready to play with the big boys yet.

First I gotta commend the child's determination, which none of you did.

He is striving for further education whereas no child at 13 would even think about (Its usually about fun & games). So at this point I am a little impressed.

But the age of 13, you don't have a brain of a full grown man (With the exception of becoming a genius at one aspect), so there you go, as a kid, he thinks he can take the law on his own hand! Meh...

Oh, and I suppose not being able to drive until you're 16 is also ageism? This reeks of "I'm special, the rules that have stood for God knows how long don't apply to me." Rules are in place because they fit 99.9999% of society, but that remaining 0.00001% still have to follow them.

I'd be more worried about his sociability than anything if I was his dad. It said in the article he was shunned by kids his age. And that definitely won't be better in university, no 20-something wants to hang you with some random kid who can't drive, or drink, or stay up past 9. He might get all those degrees by 22 but then what? Live a life of loneliness? If you haven't made friends by 22 there isn't much chance of you even knowing how to make friends at all.

This is the double-edged sword that is child prodigies.

One the one hand, we need intelligent people and those that are smart from early childhood are going to be treated as precious.

On the other hand, people don't treat them like children. They see the intelligence of an adult and forget that a child still needs to be treated like a child. I was a smart kid, and I got mad when I was treated like my age, but it was for my own good. It's damaging to treat a child like a grown-up, or do I need to point out those pregnant thirteen-year-olds?

My words to this kid:
How about, you don't go to Africa? How about you learn to play an instrument? How about you make friends? How about you get your heart ripped out by a girl/boy? How about you get hurt? Go have a goddamn life and stop trying to an adult. You're only hurting yourself and damaging your own social skills. When you're 22 and have that PhD and are incapable of proper social interaction, don't expect us to listen to you whine about how lonely you are.

This is what happens when you don't hit your kids