I agree with CFK. After 2 grade skips, I was ready to go to college and figured out how young I would be after med school, if I did undergrad and med school in 5 years (an option) and then residency.
I think a child does get caught up in the acceleration and learning curve and doesn't take that year off. Though I am contradicted by all those young sailors trying to be the youngest going around the globe. Though I do recall many were doing their studies online.
In NYC, even if you are in an accelerated program, you end up going to the same high school as other kids can get into. Although those are the highest scoring kids. But some of those kids actually come from gen ed. That high school is 31 on the US news list, but 2 for National Merit Scholars (thanks to someone for pointing that out as a comparison tool) is considered a top school for recruiting by Harvard and Yale.
At the end of the day, your kid, if not homeschooled goes to this high school, with age peers, and takes AP courses. Now, some kids actually leave this high school at 15 or 16 (as noted recently for a kid who left early to go to Harvard. But generally kids leave on time.
Gift of time. Not sure what that really means, but I know my fall birthday kid would have been really bored if I red-shirted her. Not allowed in NYC.
What would I have gained from gift of time? Intense boredom and probably would have gotten into much more trouble than I did. With an acceleration track, I pretty much had friends who acccelerated, and even though we partied through high school, we were also athletic, competed, were serious about being top in class and survived.
I think that being accelerated, there is an acknowledgement that you are smart and having top grades is part of who you are.
Ren
