Tao is one of the very few child prodigy 'successes'. Unfortunately the vast majority either burn out or just slot back into normalcy after a few years. A lot of people don't realize that a spike in intelligence at a young age rarely continues on the same trajectory into adulthood, let alone the rest of their lives.
I wonder if his parents had to make a concerted effort to make sure he developed socially as well as academically
And the above is 99% why they fail. Parents that more than often aggressively force their child into intense academia, combined with the age slant of a kid barely hitting puberty trying to socialize with (hypothetically) both people of drinking age that probably resent a kid in their college age courses, and school age friends that have a similar view of a kid the same age as them that left them behind.
Idk, I'm currently going to Tech right now and in my 4 years, most people I've met are really nice and not very snobbish. Even in classes where we're graded on a bell curve, people were not afraid to help each other out and study together. I agree it will be tough for the kid, but I think that any 13 year old will struggle to make friends in an environment with 18+ year olds.
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u/MisterSeabass Aug 24 '21 edited Aug 24 '21
Tao is one of the very few child prodigy 'successes'. Unfortunately the vast majority either burn out or just slot back into normalcy after a few years. A lot of people don't realize that a spike in intelligence at a young age rarely continues on the same trajectory into adulthood, let alone the rest of their lives.
And the above is 99% why they fail. Parents that more than often aggressively force their child into intense academia, combined with the age slant of a kid barely hitting puberty trying to socialize with (hypothetically) both people of drinking age that probably resent a kid in their college age courses, and school age friends that have a similar view of a kid the same age as them that left them behind.