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From: wildstar@nmtvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: The next generation ....
Message-ID: <816@nmtvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 16-Oct-85 02:36:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: nmtvax.816
Posted: Wed Oct 16 02:36:54 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 18-Oct-85 20:54:49 EDT
References: <726@decwrl.UUCP> <>
Reply-To: wildstar@nmtvax.UUCP (Andrew Fine)
Organization: New Mexico Tech, Socorro
Lines: 47
Summary: 


     To whom it may concern:

     I have been wondering about something.  It could be said that I am
thinking about the future, since I am not married , and am way too young
to be a parent just yet ( am 23 yrs now ).

     Most of my family on the father's side has a predominant number of
cases of inherited mental illness.  My father is a senior gynecologist,
started college at 16, but is also a manic depressive.  He has done
untold harm to the family from his deeds.  Since I am now away from the
family, the less said about him, the better.

     As for myself, I skipped two grades ( it was the wisest choice at
the time ), started college at the same age, but I had kept myself under
extreme rigid control since I was afraid that I would wind up just like
him.  It took many years of psychologists and therapy to loosen me up to
the point were I wasn't afraid to live a little, and not have to worry that
if I relaxed discipline for an instant that I would become demonic. ( Doctor:
have you ever been very bad? Answer: No ... see how effective my system is? 
:-) )

The thing that I am wondering about, is :

Is manic depression inheritable along the male line, and is it linked with
very high intelligence?  It seems that the intelligence is dominant 
( has been for at least three generations to my knowledge ), so if I
get married and have children, should I be on the lookout for "gifted"
traits in the children, and if the children are undergoing accelerated
developement, should I be on the lookout for "irregular" behaivior?

Other questions:

If any children I have are gifted, should I allow priveledges and rights
by calendar age or by the age they exhibit themselves as?

It is my feeling that the "blackboard jungle" would corrupt any child.
I don't want my children, should I have any, become John Q. Public,
easily manipulated by peers, press, and experimental teaching styles.
Would it be advisable to have a child tutored at home by professionals
( ie. engineers, scientists, linguists ) and have him/her take the GRE
early?

I guess these are silly questions that only exhibit to all that perhaps
I should wait until my mid-forties until I get married.

Andrew Fine