Read my latest story, "A Tale of Two Birthdays", at 52|250.

 Apparently the program that allowed me to finish my first two years of college while still in high school has grown immensely in popularity since then.  Obviously, I support this program, but I think it doesn’t go far enough.  Students who are ready to do college-level work need to be allowed to enter college– even four-year universities– when they are ready.  For such students, honors and AP courses are often insufficient, especially in the humanities, not only because the curriculum itself is too simple but also because their agemates have little to contribute to class discussions.

Keeping students back for social reasons is short-sighted.  The kids who would thrive in the high school milieu will find their friends anyway; those with social difficulties certainly are not going to improve in that milieu.  So much of the trouble with the education system in the US is this one-size-fits-all attitude, this notion that development must be kept even in all areas and that, if it’s uneven in someone, then the weaknesses must be worked on at the expense of the strengths.  (Unless, of course, athleticism is one of those strengths.)

Indeed, he article to which I  linked concludes with a high-school principal saying, You need the spirit-filled hallway. You need homecoming. You need all that stuff.”  That is, of course, ridiculous.  For me, and for many people like me that “spirit-filled hallway” was a little bit of torture.  Even if no one happened to be harassing me at the moment, it was loud and crowded.  The campus was set up in a way that made it difficult for me to find space to be alone during the day, even during lunch.  For an introvert, and especially for an introvert who is also an Aspie, that’s an incredibly stressful situation to live through every day.

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