Kira was smarter than people realize

One thing DS9 never really explored in depth was how smart Kira probably had to be in order to rapidly learn all the new Starfleet tech and procedures. Nobody ever suggested she had a hard time serving as an equal to the Starfleet officers. She probably never had a full pre-university education, much less four years at the Academy. They should have had a scene where she came off-shift, replicated a raktajino and then slid behind a desk in her quarters for another six hours of studying. I would have also enjoyed a scene where Jake is bitching about school and she sets him straight about how privileged he is to have the opportunity for a good education and how some people (implied to be her) never get those opportunities and have to work even harder just to keep up.

 

I totally agree.
Not to mention that Kira is one of the best Star Trek characters ever!

 

Most people in the future seem pretty smart (in terms of academia, even those that never had the chance at a formal education pick up things quickly).

At least those we get to meet.

 

All the kids are learning coding in school these days. I can't imagine how much people would have to learn in 300+ years.

 

Well, we know about that (apparent) 10-year old that didn't want to learn calculus in When The Bough Breaks, so if he's typical for his age, education has been accelerated in the 24th century in some way.

 

Maybe Harry was just mathematically gifted. I expect that by the 24th century, education will be far more individualized.

 

Kira was a member of a resistance group and I'm going to assume "learning things quickly" was a good skill to develop in that line of work.

 

All the SF people had to figure out how to operate Cardassian controls as well

 

And when they got the Defiant, Kira could just walk onto the bridge and start flying her. No training required. As near as I can tell her previous flight experience was those old Bajoran runabouts, falling apart and held together with paperclips and chewing gum. Quite a step to an overpowered Starship.

 

I agree that in the 24th century education might be far more individualized. As for Harry though:

1) Harry doesn't want to learn calculus
2) His father then explains to him everybody needs a basic understanding of calculus.

While this doesn't make it impossible, I think it makes it less likely that Harry was in a specially accelerated mathematics program.

Also, Jake Sisko never strikes me as a mathematical prodigy. Yet, he too had to take a calculus test at age 10. (i.e. in Second Sight - early season 2. The script for Emissary says Jake is a 9-year old, even though it is not said on screen),

 

Jake is a teenager in the first season. This is confirmed in an early S1 episode: Sisko says to O'Brien something on the order of "your daughter is three. Wait 'till she's fourteen."

 

He's only 9 during Wolf 359, and 12-13 for the rest of the season.

 

My bad. The script does state he's nine, but that's at the time of Wolf 359. That would make him 12 by the start of DS9 (which is stated to be '3 years later') and therefore 13 in S2.

Still, I would consider learning calculus at age 13 (or 14) slightly early. I started learning it when I was 15 or 16.

 

Even if Federation (and Cardassian) pedagogy is much more advanced, it seems unlikely that young Kira would have either had full access to it, to had access to it for the full timeframe children were in school. The Cardassians would have likely cracked down hard on education.

It served them no purpose to have highly educated Bajorans running around, and would have probably represented a risk to the Cardassians. They probably had rudimentary education to teach them just enough to work the jobs the Cardassians wanted worked. Anything more would have been something the Bajorans had to do underground. Many of Kira's resistance friends come off as poorly or, at least, narrowly educated. Probably the religious clergy were some of the most educated among the Bajorans during the Occupation.

 

Is it though?
That depends on how much education techniques have improved over the course of 4 centuries.
I am pretty sure you learned stuff in early school years that would have been considered beyond 12 year olds in the 17th century.

 

Also, I expect that year-round schooling is a thing by the 24th century. With 250d of education every year instead of the normal 180, and no loss of retention over summer, kids might be at a higher level at a younger age.

 

Sure, I'm just comparing with my own situation. I also only say it's slightly early. There might be countries today where students start studying these topics 1 or 2 years earlier, or later than when I got them. Harry at around age 10 is a different story though.

Why wouldn't there be holidays for the kids (and their teachers) anymore in the 24th century? We know Starfleet officers can accumulate huge amounts of leave (318 days for Picard) and I doubt that's just from working the weekends as well. So I would suspect kids get holidays, too.

 

It doesn't last as long, everyone doesn't get them all at the same time, and education is much more portable than it was. Plus, many kids learn by doing, especially on ships/fledgling colonies,etc.

 

I never realized I was suppose to think Kira was not smart. She struck me as intelligent, capable, and fast learner.

Was I supposed to think she was dumb?

 

Either than or they'd burn out by the time they're 12.

I do think more rapid progress in education would be possible, but it would be by making more effective use of the days rather than not taking long vacation.