Once upon a time, there was a bright student who first came to IMACS when he was already in high school. He was interested in learning to program and had heard high praise for our University Computer Science courses.
The class began smoothly as teacher and pupil progressed through the principles of computational thinking. This student, who was used to conquering schoolwork with his brain tied behind his back, slayed the early exercises with ease.
As the assignments quickly became more challenging, however, he found himself unaccustomed to the effort of intellectual struggle.
One day, our earnest student declared to his IMACS instructor that a certain programming problem was simply impossible to solve! Our wise and experienced teacher considered this student with a measured gaze and pointed out, “But you’ve only thought about it for three minutes.”
The student, quite politely, seriously, and honestly replied, “Well, yeah.”
If only he had started IMACS when he was younger.
The moral of the story : The earlier the experience of true intellectual challenge, the stronger the will of the mind to persevere. (In other words, enroll your elementary school child in IMACS today!)