Girl aged six passes GCSE maths

[dipsydoodle]

A six-year-old girl from east London, who sat her GCSE maths at the age of five, has passed the exam.

Deborah Thorpe, of Chadwell Heath, thought to be the youngest in England to pass a GCSE, achieved an E grade.

Her father Charles said: "You see young people in the newspapers who have taken exams and you think, why not?"

Deborah, who wants to be a doctor, said maths was not her favourite subject. The girl was among 650,000 pupils receiving their GCSE results.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14660547

[non sociopath skin]

1. Ok, but it's important to get the balance right IMHO

I've worked with people who were damaged quite badly by being pushed too hard too early.

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

2. I agree.

Parents who are themselves terrified of maths, or don't consider it important, are likely to pass on negative attitudes to their children. But the other extreme of pressuring children to pass exams as early as possible carries the risk of just putting them off in the long run: especially when, as apparently is the case here, it is not a response to the child's own interest.

In Finland, a child of this age wouldn't even have begun formal schooling; yet they end up doing a lot better in maths than the British.