Remember that genius child who was set to graduate from Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) in the Netherlands with a degree in engineering this year at the age of nine?
Laurent Simons is a real-life Young Sheldon, with an incredibly high IQ and a propensity for mathematics. He supposedly completed his degree in only nine months.
Turns out things didn’t actually go to plan, though.
According to CNN, Laurent’s family got into a dispute with the university and he has now terminated his studies without graduating.
TUE said it had recommended Laurent finish his studies by mid-2020, rather than at the end of December, because of the number of exams he still has to pass.
“This would still be, in every way, a phenomenally fast schedule,” the university said in a statement sent to CNN.
TUE said Laurent’s father, Alexander Simons, had “repeated his explicit wish that his son should obtain his bachelor degree at the age of 9, which means that Laurent must successfully complete his bachelor within ten months for a study that normally lasts three years.”
The parents are telling a different story. Alexander says that he didn’t initially have a problem with the extended timetable.
Ultimately, he said, the family decided Laurent would leave TUE as he had received an offer to study for a doctorate at a university in the United States, and wouldn’t be able to split his time between the two institutions.
“Sometimes you have to make choices,” Alexander told CNN in reference to the decision.
“If he lets it go, you never know if he will get that opportunity again.”
I’m pretty sure a genius 10-year-old is going to be just as sought after as a genius nine-year-old, but I’m no expert.
Alexander claims that TEU changed Laurent’s scheduled graduation because they were upset that the kid was moving to another university.
TEU says that it was “regrettable” that the Simons had rejected the new timetable.
It all sounds petty.
On the upside, it’s not like the kid has to worry about being too old to start his career if his degree is delayed a little.
Does this mean his mid-life crisis gets moved to 30, now?
[source:cnn]
