rarlcove

My first thought was, wow, how fucked up is this kid socially because of what his parents made him do?

Supposedly the Unabomber's mother making him skip grades was one of the biggest factors in him becoming antisocial.

Yeah, that's in his Wikipedia article. It was a psych experiment he had to do as part of a class. They tested people's reaction to stress and frustration by making fun of their beliefs and upsetting them.

It sounds reasonable to me... Admittedly, I've only known one grade-skipper, but he acts about 14 when he's actually 18 or 19 and a sophomore in college.

Adolescence is hard enough without also being a year or more apart from everyone and thus always singled out as different.

Also, there's the fact that putting an above average child into a higher grade often knocks them back down to average. That's why if your child's birthday falls so that you have a choice of sending him to kindergarten or waiting another year, it's best to wait, since then he'll be the most developed and perhaps highest achieving student in his peer group.

tl;dr making your smart kid skip grades will get them social stigma and a lower GPA

suddenly it all makes sense

1. Have rich parents that went to Harvard

2. Failing that, cure cancer and

3. Be black or

4. Failing that be hispanic

5. And demonstrate "diversity"