Today our Eagles took advantage of a beautiful spring day for a spirited game of keep away.

“Keep away today; college tomorrow?”  You might take that as a philosophical observation about the ephemeral nature of childhood.  True, but not the whole truth.

Our Eagles are so far ahead academically that many soon will be taking college courses in high school (Maria Teresa at Acton Academy Guatemala, age 14, already is taking Harvard, Stanford quality level from Coursera, Udacity and EdX.)

Yesterday, a major accreditor announced that five MOOC’s (massive open online courses) may know be taken for college credit (note – most MOOC’s are free!)

The courses:

• “Introduction to Genetics and Evolution” and “Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach,” from Duke University.
•  “Pre-Calculus” and “Algebra,” from the University of California at Irvine; and
•  “Calculus: Single-Variable,” from the University of Pennsylvania.

Expect hundreds more such courses, from elite universities, to follow soon.

Our Eagles will be well qualified for a four year, on campus experience at an Ivy League university; many of our families may choose to invest the hundreds of thousands of dollars required for such an enriching experience.

But the whole concept of a college education is changing so rapidly that the brightest and most motivated students may soon be able to gain all of the academic value from a college experience for pennies on the dollar.

If this comes to pass, our Eagles will be at the front of the line.