11-Year-Old Graduates With Degree In Astrophysics

Gotenosente writes "11-Year-Old Moshe Kai Cavalin has graduated from East Los Angeles Community College with a degree in astrophysics. 'At a time when his peers are finishing 6th grade, this only child of a Taiwanese mother and an Israeli father is trying on a cap and gown preparing to graduate with a 4.0 from community college.' The article continues with a quotation by the boy, hinting at his modesty, 'I don't consider myself a genius because there are 6.5 billion people in this world and each one is smart in his or her own way.' Daniel Judge, Cavalin's statistics professor, says, 'Most students think that things should be harder than they are and they put these mental blocks in front of them and they make things harder than they should be. In the case of Moshe, he sees right through the complications.'"

Comments

Two Year Associate's Degree of Liberal Arts

[eldavojohn]

It is amazing to have done this by age 11 but it is a 2 year associates degree of liberal arts in astrophysics.

Once again, I'm not trying to detract from his accomplishments but this isn't exactly as intensive as a four year bachelor's of science.

I was looking for a course plan from that college but could not find one for astrophysics ... if you look up regular physics, it simply says "The item you selected does not have a Certificate/Degree." Please note their general catalogue has no mention of astrophysics. This is the extent of all of their Physics courses:

• PHYSICS 001 Mechanics of Solids
• PHYSICS 002 Mechanics of Fluids, Heat and Sound
• PHYSICS 003 Electricity and Magnetism
• PHYSICS 004 Optics and Modern Physics
• PHYSICS 006 General Physics I
• PHYSICS 007 General Physics II
• PHYSICS 011 Introductory Physics
• PHYSICS 021 General Physics I with Calculus
• PHYSICS 022 General Physics II with Calculus

Leaves a bit to be desired. Is it possible to "get" a degree in physics (let alone a special area of physics) with the most advanced course being "Optics and Modern Physics?" I think in my undergrad we touched on relativity in required physics courses with several advanced courses devoted entirely to it and its special forms.

Re:Two Year Associate's Degree of Liberal Arts

[bcrowell]

Is it possible to "get" a degree in physics (let alone a special area of physics) with the most advanced course being "Optics and Modern Physics?" I think in my undergrad we touched on relativity in required physics courses with several advanced courses devoted entirely to it and its special forms.

I teach physics at a nearby community college (not ELAC). Community colleges in the US generally offer a bunch of different flavors of introductory physics. At my school, for instance, there are four different flavors of physics: Physics 130 (gen ed), 205-206 (algebra-based, for biology majors), 210-211 (calc-based, for biology majors), and 221-223 (calc-based, for physical science and engineering majors). I guarantee you ELAC's will match up almost exactly with these, because everything has to articulate properly with the Cal State and UC systems. You don't take more than one of these sequences. If he got an AA in physics at ELAC, presumably he had to take the highest-level physics sequence (probably the one they list as General Physics), plus 2 years of calculus. The physics sequence would include some of the more gee-whiz topics like relativity and quantum physics, but at a fairly basic level.

Re:Community college?

[rob1980]

They are much less selective than 4-year schools and the programs tend to be more vocational in nature.

That said, taking some things like composition or entry-level mathematics tends to be the same regardless of whether you take it at a community college for $40/hour or at a university for $200/hour. Some of the stuff the kid took won't be worth anything anywhere, but he'll have a good chunk of his general education requirements knocked out at whatever university he gets into.