I’m on HN today because I learned some basic Logowriter & HTML at 8 & 9 years old in 1994 at an a program connected to private & public schools called Academic Resource Center in Tallahassee, FL (it’s no longer around).
It was once every week or two and my time there was made up of 2 electives. There were all kinds of science, art & drama classes as well.
It was GREAT and it meant that I had access to a computer a few years before we had one in the house and had instructors who could actually guide me many years before I otherwise would have.
All of that said, the ticket in was being in the advanced math class. I can see a handful of ways this would be a bad way to gatekeep it. The reason it was so great was that it gave kids an opportunity to find a subject they are interested and then double down with much less strict guidance. No grades, much less serious “school” feel.
I would guess that almost everyone needs this, not just kids that can get the hang of / care about math a little quicker.
It was once every week or two and my time there was made up of 2 electives. There were all kinds of science, art & drama classes as well.
It was GREAT and it meant that I had access to a computer a few years before we had one in the house and had instructors who could actually guide me many years before I otherwise would have.
All of that said, the ticket in was being in the advanced math class. I can see a handful of ways this would be a bad way to gatekeep it. The reason it was so great was that it gave kids an opportunity to find a subject they are interested and then double down with much less strict guidance. No grades, much less serious “school” feel.
I would guess that almost everyone needs this, not just kids that can get the hang of / care about math a little quicker.