Kid genius just can't get ahead

[DS]

Angela Lipsman, 15, a genius who skipped high school to go to college, can't get her degrees without a diploma.

Angela Lipsman is a really smart kid, but a really, really dumb rule is keeping the 15-year-old from getting a college degree.
Angela, who skipped high school and went straight to college last year, has earned her associate's degree and is on her way to a bachelor's - but she can't have the sheepskins because she never got a high school diploma.

Even worse, the gifted girl's proud dad is being investigated by child protective services for alleged educational neglect - for letting his daughter go to college.

"It's not fair," said Angela, who has a 3.84 grade point average and 71 credits from Borough of Manhattan Community College and Fashion Institute of Technology. "I'm still going to school and I'm still getting an education."

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/101278p-91697c.html

[CBGLuthier]

1. Heh, I had the same experience

A tiny bit older though but I had to get my GED before they would let me get the diploma. So, I had to wait until I was 18 to take the GED too. They have changed that at least now and lowered it to 16.

Pretty damn idiotic indeed.

[foo_bar]

4. same here

I went to public school for the meals. Skipping grades was bureacratic mayhem, smart kids were filed under "special needs" and encouraged to take the Procrustean path.

[slappypan]

2. Harrison Bergeron

classic story by Kurt Vonnegut

[librechik]

3. The Fashion Institute of Technology?

no offense, but aren't all 15 year old girls fashion geniuses?

Seriously, the injustice of our educational system is mortifying. But a little foresight and research coud have avoided the social service intervention. How smart is that? Get the kid a GED when she's old enough in that state, and no one can accuse you of skipping school.

Why are schools (and their administrations)in this country so much like jails?

[DUreader]

5. Schools and Jails are both designed on a 'factory model'

Kids and criminals the product that moves through on the assembly line

It is all about 'efficiency' and 'production quotas'

There was a whole philosophy advanced with the 'success' of factory

production during the Industrial Revolution and it is all

interwoven with Social Darwinism (The Factory was the fittest production model)

One of the models many S.D. proponents ignore is the parasite that

kills its host and no longer has an environment in which to thrive.

[Barrett808]

6. Yes, check out John Taylor Gatto's site

His book, The Underground History of American Education, lays out the sad details. His thesis is basically that when the industrial age really got swinging, there weren't enough dumb people to fill the required jobs, so a system was designed to produce dumb people. Seriously...

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/

[VolcanoJen]

7. Moving from LBN to General Discussion

This is an interesting story, and I feel sorry for the kid, but as it was published in yesterday mornings NY Daily News, it no longer meets the criteria for the Latest Breaking News Forum.

Please continue discussion here in GD.

Thanks! :-)
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator