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[quote=pettifogger][quote=Anonymous]Thanks PP.  DH and I have done IT AND engineering (one as an aerospace engineer, another in operations engineering). and the path definitely depends on what our DCs eventually want to do.  I’m just honestly curious on what the alternate pats are.

FWIW My friend considering opting out his DC is a SV-types by the way.  He’d prefer to hire talented kids more out of HS but a lot of people are willing to take the risks of not getting the sheep skin.[/quote]

My take is if a kid isn't doing lots of problem solving (whether through math, computers, puzzles, chess, ... anything really), they're kind of missing out in developing a sharp set of reasoning skills at an earlier age. Many kids only really start doing that in college (which is the first time they encounter a serious course/challenge). It's fine for those that struggle, work hard, and then are able to adapt. But an alarming number of them start a STEM major with high hopes, fail to adapt, then decide it's not for them (or even more sadly, believe that they're not smart enough which in many instances is not really the root cause... it's the fact that they're overwhelmed because they're facing a high barrier to entry in college, without having had any problem solving experiences in K-12).

A child's passion and curiosity is hard to develop (certainly even harder through the low quality way math class is taught in a typical school). The biggest reason to have them start early (i.e in elementary) is because they're natural curious, unafraid to tackle challenges, unafraid to be wrong and to fail and get back up, etc. To me an alarming number of kids who have A's in middle school and high school are actually mentally checked out (at least to math). Many parents don't realize this and think everything is well because they're doing their homework and getting good grades on paper, but have learned nothing. Some work harder and get lucky and get into a good school. A subset try out STEM because it's pretty popular in today's times, but some of them get their hopes dashed and sadly fail to get back up. And it's not their fault; their K-12 education essentially set them up for failure by not teaching any thinking or any kind of mental struggle (i.e problem solving).

None of the math classes offered in high school are mentally challenging (outside of special places like TJ, etc.) In particular they feel pretty trivial, aka an easy A, to kids who have problem solving experience. We see this all the time, the kids who played with a lot of puzzles, or did well in math contests early on, ace all high school math classes with almost no difficulty. This includes the SATs (which also feel pretty trivial when compared to harder problems found in math contests). Essentially, the kids who practiced problem solving and have developed quantitative reasoning through practice will flourish in college, no matter what major they choose.

I wouldn't honestly worry about Algebra 2, just expose your DC to interesting, challenging, creative problems and have him try to solve them (obviously start progressively with ones within their reach). The skills they will acquire by working on them will transfer to all school math classes, including Algebra 2, making those classes very easy by comparison.

In college you won't really be able to predict their path, they will decide on what drives them (perhaps it may not even be related to STEM at all). But if they have strong problem solving skills, they will succeed at whatever they choose, even the hardest possible major.

In terms of career path, a math or physics major is generally considered a very flexible option as it can open up a path to any high demand job. For example you may have read or know that top finance firms and hedge funds, don't really primarily look for finance or economics majors; they highly prefer STEM majors, in particular math, physics (or both even better). This is because they rightly realize that if the candidate went through a strong college program within those fields, they will have acquired excellent thinking skills that will be useful for them in solving new problems. But this pathway is obviously very hard, not many kids will be able to major in math and/or physics in the first place, especially at colleges with top programs. I agree that it's hard, but I don't think it's that hard if a kid is passionate about it and started a little earlier.[/quote]

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