Saturday, March 28, 2009

age of education

This Prompt O’ The Day about AGING is brought to you by sunday scribblings

I graduated from high school at the age of 13. The following post is a guest blog by my Oh Wise Creator, Celise Downs, on where she came up with the idea.

Age of Education

When I was in high school, a friend of mine had a younger sister who graduated from high school a year early. She was smart, no doubt (she got a full ride to Purdue), but it fascinated me that someone would be so eager to start their higher education so soon. I barely graduated from high school because my nose was buried in books—and I’m not talking study books, either. And I wasn’t looking forward to college, either. Mid-way through first semester at a community college, I was wishing my parents would’ve let me take a break first.

But I digress. While immersing myself in the teen culture, I would read stories about kids who skipped a grade—or two, graduated early, received a degree at age 17, or received a master’s or Phd by age 20. Just recently I read about a woman who allowed her son to skip high school altogether and go straight to college!

How crazy is that?

When I hear stuff like that it really makes me wonder. Is there a smart gene? Is the child a quick learner? Or is the child just naturally curious about the world and wants to know anything and everything? When I was going to school, I don't think charter schools existed. And I'm not sure how long homeschooling has been in existence, but it wasn't an option my parents ever thought to look into. In creating the character for this series, I knew I wanted a smart girl, someone who'd graduated early from high school. By this time, I'd heard about homeschooling--or 'unschooling' as it's called sometimes--and I thought the uniqueness of that world was perfect for Draven. A perfect and 'freeing' environment like that would make it very easy for a child to graduate early.

And while it’s great to hear that a child is smart enough to do that, there's the “Yeah, but what about their social and psychological development?” aspect of it. That kid who skipped high school and went to college? How did he feel about being surrounded by kids older than him? How did they relate to him? Was he an outcast? Was he treated like a freak? Does he have any friends? How hard—or easy—was it for him to make friends? I mean really, how do you prepare your child for something like that?

Well, in Draven's case, you prepare them by keeping their fingers in the proverbial teenage pie. I didn't want to throw her into a life of an informant without anything else to fall back on. Sure, she could have a normal job, but that's still a "grown-up" job,and it's not like she would have much contact with other kids her age. She's a teenager and I still wanted her to have that teenage experience. In order to do that, she had to go back to school. And it couldn't be just any school.

My niece, who inspired me to write the series and for whom Draven Atreides is modeled after, attended a charter school during her 4 yrs in high school. I shadowed her one day (meaning I went to school with her and attended all of her classes with her) and fell in love with her school. The whole time I was there, I was like "Why couldn't I have gone to a school like this? Where the hell were these schools when I was going to high school?" I was jealous! Besides the general core classes like math and science, they had creative writing classes, dance, drama, music, choir, art, photography, and ceramics. Her school doesn't have an athletic team, no sports to speak of, actually, and at the time, they didn't even have a yearbook or school newspaper. That may have changed by now (she only graduated last year, after all). Her school promotes freedom. Freedom of creativity, that is, and that's the type of school Draven needed as a cover.

I'm going to enjoy writing about Draven. I'm going to enjoy showing the world, well, Draven's world. And hopefully she'll scoop up some fans in the process.

isnt she freakin' awesome? she drives me crazy sometimes, but i have to chalk that up to her being a creative. click on the link to learn more about her. and youll be able to read all about me and my very first case oct 23rd.

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