Genius boy (9) is going to study at ‘best university in the world’
The 9-year-old Laurent Simons almost certainly exchanges the Technical University of Eindhoven for a top university in the United States. His father reveals that last night in the Dutch program Pauw. It appears that a Flemish-Dutch social problem partly prompted his son’s departure from the Netherlands.
Alexander Simons did not want to say which American university is involved. “That is confidential. Agreements have been made about this with specific people. It is already quite advanced, but it is not done to talk about it.”
According to the father, the chance was too good to let go. “If you were offered an offer to work with the best university in the world, it would not be smart not to use it. You are then just at the top of the top.”
In addition to the level, counseling of prodigies is better in the United States, Simons said. “In America, they really do a lot to send such children to college. Even with a child who is much less clever than Laurent.”
Shy
His character and Belgian background also affected the 9-year-old bachelor student at the Eindhoven University of Technology, according to AD. This was apparent from an example his father mentioned. “Dutch students are cheeky, Laurent is shy. When he has a question, he knocks on the teacher’s door and asks if he has a few minutes, but then he is sent away.” Laurent cannot take that well. “He can’t defend himself and protect himself if he gets negative energy.”
Laurent was about to graduate as a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering but stopped Monday after a disagreement about the study pace. His parents wanted him to graduate before his tenth birthday, on December 26, but the university did not consider that end date feasible. This is because of the number of exams that Laurent would still have to pass. The educational institution proposed a study plan with which the 9-year-old could complete his studies in mid-2020.
Incomprehensible, according to his parents. “If we had followed the advice from the university, Laurent would have had to study for eight more months. While he does one course a week and the entire study in nine months,” mother said in disbelief.
A shift in the graduation date could not have been explained to Laurent, his father said. “If a course lasts longer than a week, it will get bored. Laurent needs to be challenged because he is so smart. Moreover, the university’s timetable would run counter to its plans. He already had a whole follow-up scenario in mind.”
Robotics
According to his father, the 9-year-old already knows exactly what he wants to be later on. “Laurent has no particular profession in mind but wants to become a scientist. His dream is that he can make artificial organs. Robotics, cyber-like bodies almost towards immortality. Little electrical engineering needed, little medicine. So it’s not like he wants to finish this study and then, for example, make televisions at Philips.
In that light, it would be obvious for Laurent to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Boston. This is at the top of the QS list of the best universities in the world and has training in electrical engineering and a Robotics team. The prodigy’s parents will follow their son to the United States, they revealed last night.
