Hope for the Intellectually Hungry

In light of indefensible viewpoint discrimination, grade inflation, declining SAT scores, and the general malaise that besets the intellectual talent at today’s university, we should take comfort in knowing that there are always a few bright young people able and willing to pursue the life of the mind, in spite of the multitude of contemporary obstacles.

In a piece from the Hoover Institution’s Education Next entitled "High Schoolers in College," June Kronholz profiles one such bright student, Michael Jokl, who is dual-enrolled in at Indiana-Purdue University. Jokl began his semi-college career at 14 years of age, as an 8th-grade home schooler and has since earned 43 college credits, maintaining a 3.9 grade-point average at Purdue. However, Jokl is paying his own way, as he is ineligible for student loans, grants, and scholarships without a high school diploma.

Kronholz goes on to profile today’s recognition of the Talented Tenth, who seem to be “stuck in an academic rut.” That is, in spite of consistent evidence for the existence of a talented cohort, “federal and state policies [tend to] pressure schools to concentrate their resources on getting children to minimal math and reading competencies... mean[ing] high school is often a fairly dismal place for faster learners.”

But, Purdue U. is doing something innovative to fix the rut and direct the high achievers toward greater academic achievement. The university’s Special Programs for Academic Nurturing (SPAN) enrolls 300 students a year, mostly high school seniors, but a variety from the lower grades, including a 9-year old taking second-year physics. As Kronholz reports, these prodigies are found across the schooling spectrum, though with some interesting demographic trends: “Most are boys…Half are home schoolers; the other half come from 61 area private and public schools, mostly in the suburbs.”

Surely the most challenging problem for such programs is financing these opportunities for talented students.

The stickiest issue is who pays for the classes. A few states split their per-pupil funding between the high school and college. A Michigan college that enrolls a high schooler for two courses, for example, gets $2,279 of the youngster’s $6,875 foundation allowance; the high school keeps the rest, Michigan advises schools, using an online calculator to do the math. Other states lay the cost on the school district, college, or state board of education. In 22 states, it’s up to kids or their parents to pay for college courses.

If providing opportunities for each student to reach his or her potential is a worthy ambition, Kronholz asks the obvious question: “It’s our goal for low achievers, after all. Why not high achievers, too?”