Many parents have dreams of their children graduating high school and pursuing higher education. For one California family, their son was able to do both before turning 12 years old.
Growing up, I earned pretty good grades in school — not counting that one math class in the seventh grade (it was hard). Like other students my age, I did the best I could and took everything in stride. Apparently I didn’t work hard enough, as children these days are graduating from college before they reach puberty.
College.
All jokes aside, this story is pretty amazing.
College #graduation celebration with family pic.twitter.com/MIp8kta9R2
— Tanishq Abraham is at ICML 2024! (@iScienceLuvr) May 21, 2015
Tanishq Abraham in many ways is your typical 11-year-old boy. He loves playing video games, spending time with his friends and hitting up a swimming pool whenever possible. While this might sound like your average child, he has accomplished something not too many of us could ever dream of doing at such a young age.
He graduated from college with three associate degrees.
The Sacramento Bee reports Tanishq enrolled at American River College by age 7. After skipping the first grade, his mother made the decision to quit her job and homeschool both Tanishq and his younger sister. Tanishq finished high school by age 10 and began enrolling in college-level courses on a full-time basis.
“He pretty much breezed through it,” notes Tanishq’s father, Bijou Abraham.
3 Associate college degrees -Awesome feeling- completed my first few baby steps to my BIG goal- @NobelPrize med doctor/researcher & @POTUS
— Tanishq Abraham is at ICML 2024! (@iScienceLuvr) May 21, 2015
With associate degrees in math and physical science, foreign language studies and general science, Tanishq has his eyes set on Stanford University to study biomedical engineering. His younger sister is following in his footsteps, as she too takes classes at American River College.
As amazing as an accomplishment of this magnitude is, one has to ask whether it’s too soon for a child. The traditional schooling route was obviously not a challenge for Tanishq, but does that automatically mean college before age 12?
I have a cousin in my family who skipped three grades when he was younger. It was a hard decision my aunt had to make, as she didn’t feel he was being challenged in school. As a result, he graduated from high school earlier than normal and headed off to college. While he was able to keep up with his academic demands, his age prohibited him from participating in traditional university events. It also made things extremely awkward when it came to socializing. Even though he was considered an equal, he was still in many ways a child.
Would you allow your child to attend college before they become a teenager?
More on college
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