FOR A MAJORITY of students, school is a situation to endure until age 18, and it's difficult to summon the motivation to wake up for roll call. Eads teens get early
start on college
By Nadine Kam
nkame@starbulletin.comIt doesn't have to be that way. According to Kindling International Ministries pastor Don Eads, who has seen his two eldest children enter college at ages 12 and 13, motivating kids is as simple as finding out what they're interested in and letting them pursue it.
Eads would be the first to caution parents and guardians about pushing children too far too soon, saying, "Not every set of kids is ready for the challenge of college at a young age. What matters more than where your kids are schooled is your support and interest in what they're doing, and being able to find resources and answers to their questions."
It just so happened that Michael Eads, now 17 and a junior in astronomy at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, and Angel Eads, 16, and a senior in the University of Minnesota drama program, knew what they wanted by ages 7 and 8, and that was to make an early exit from school.
"There are a lot of people who love to sing my praises. There are a lot more who say, 'You ruined your kids' lives,' " said Don, who homeschooled the two, while wife Teri was the breadwinner with a civil service job. "But I have to say, the kids are all right. To the outside world, what they've done seems extraordinary, but to them, it seems normal.
"Angel wrote in her notebook that she wanted to be in college by the time she was 12; she was auditing college classes with me when she was 11," said Don, who wanted to make sure they had the social skills and emotional security to speak up in college-level discussions. "They did at least as well, if not better than I did," he said. It's difficult to trust what your kids know, but they're capable of far more than we realize and they're resilient if they fail."
Unable to take the G.E.D. (General Education Development) equivalency diploma test until age 16, Angel and Michael entered Longview Community College in Missouri by taking a placement test, later transferring to UH-Hilo. And while Angel and Michael have maintained good grades in college, Don says "motivation is just as important as being smart."
Eads is a representative for the Tony Robbins Foundation, which seeks to motivate people to achieve "life mastery." The key to motivation, Eads has learned, is simply to find something you're interested in and pursue your dream with your whole heart.
His sensitivity to his childrens' feelings is what convinced him to pull them out of school. "Kids who are gifted often begin to act up. Many times they're identified as a discipline problem, and really, if they seem restless it's just because they're bored."
Eads said it's important to recognize that "we might have in Hawaii more overachievers than we suspect and we must clear the way in the system for them. At the very least, parents should try to take an active interest in their child's education, and ask how it's going. And if you don't like it, say something about it."
With Don's encouragement, both Angel and Michael stayed in contact with childhood friends while growing up.
"They knew I was homeschooled, but friends don't care about intelligence or stuff like that, as long as I could hit the ball; nah, they're not that superficial. They just saw me as the same old person," said Michael by phone from his Big Island home in Waimea.
While he and his sister enjoyed perhaps too much freedom with Dad, able to call recess at any time, Michael said one of the events that contributed most to giving them formal discipline was their participation in a Kansas City Renaissance Fair, an intensive program that involved summerlong classes and preparation for daily, 12-hour fall performances.
They wrote and performed their own pieces and "it set us up for maintaining a schedule," he said. To this day, Michael doesn't believe he is smarter than the next kid, having achieved a head start in life through "mostly determination, persistence."
Still, it's not exactly a blessing to be going to school, working as a software department assistant at Keck Observatory and being 100 percent responsible for rent, utilities and phone bills at such a young age, while the rest of his family cavorts in China, where Don Eads is teaching at Beijing University.
"Well, work happens to everybody sometime; it's not the easiest thing in the world, but it just seems natural. It's a good process, character building," Michael said. "I can't read as much as a used to, but I still play my fair share of video games."
As for the idea of having children of his own someday and pushing them through school, he says, "I would have to look at the child. It depends on what they would want to do."
And lest anyone think Michael and Angel's accomplishments are a fluke, the youngest Eads, Hoku, at 8, has won over professors in Beijing with his Mandarin, learned last year.
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