A literary mystery.

A recent break in Thailand set me a bit of a mystery. Why is the Bangkok Post such a good newspaper?

I picked up a copy of the Bangkok Post while sitting in a hotel lobby in Chiangmai. I didn't expect much of it. After all, Thailand is a country of patchy literacy at best. In North-Eastern Thailand, for instance, only 58% of people are able to read. (This according to an article in the Bangkok Post). Therefore, it was something of a surprise to find myself reading literate, well-written, thoughtful articles with a...and this was the biggest surprise...global perspective. The Bangkok Post, despite having a local style title, was not a local newspaper, in the restricted sense of the word, but an international newspaper.

The Bangkok Post contained feature articles on international figures, in-depth articles on Thai issues - but also articles on world issues. The articles had been written with insight and thoughtfulness and actually seemed "meaty", in the reading.

As I read, I found myself comparing it to the newspapers of Singapore. By contrast, the Singaporean newspapers seem parochial, narrow in focus and local in flavour. They do not really look deeply into international matters, the articles are superficial and contain little real thinking (except those articles which they appropriate from international sources). The Singaporean newspapers seem to be poorly written by comparison to what I read in the Bangkok Post, in general and seem to contain less of actual substance.

Now, this is a mystery to me. The level of literacy in Singapore is 95.7%. Yet, the newspapers are a shallower read than what the Bangkok Post offers. Something is wrong here. Surely, the newspapers of Singapore should be more literate, better written, thoughtful and insightful than those of a much less developed nation, Thailand? Yet, it is not so. The Bangkok Post is a better read than any Singaporean paper (at least on the samples I read, which are probably average ones). This suggests something interesting. Though literacy is not universal in Thailand, there is a minority whose literacy exceeds that of the typical Singaporean newspaper writer. There is also a minority whose thinking is more insightful than that of a typical Singaporean newspaper writer. The result is that, although less developed and less literate on average, the Thais manage to produce a newspaper of greater excellence than is managed in Singapore.

There is a lesson in this. Singapore's media can do better. If Thailand can do such a good job, with less resources and a lower literacy base, surely Singapore can up its game. We have to wonder, however, why Singapore's newspapers are so indifferent in quality. Perhaps it is policy. Perhaps it is a choice that has been made to produce papers of modest literacy, limited insight and a local perspective. However, having seen what a third world neighbour can do, I am left unsatisfied with Singapore's efforts.

It is time for Singapore to have a media that matches its stature as a developed nation that is officially the tenth most expensive place to live on Earth. Singapore can start by trying to write a paper as good as the Bangkok Post. However, it might take them some time to catch up...

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

An unexpected dinosaur.

Yesterday, Tiarnan sat up in bed and said, quite out of nothing, "I have a dinosaur body."

We looked at our little three year old son and saw that he looked just like a little three year old son. We couldn't see the resemblance to a dinosaur, at all.

Perceiving, perhaps, our incomprehension, he bent forward to reveal his back, and then reached behind him to trace the bumps of his spine.

"There!" he said, as if that explained everything.

Ah. We understood. He was comparing the ridges on his back to the ridges on the backs of dinosaurs such as Triceratops. Indeed, by that measure, he did have a "dinosaur body".

Tiarnan, our little dinosaur, is funny in the way he thinks. He is always associating things and linking distant things together. A moment's reflection is always enough to see that he has a point and that the things he has connected could, indeed, be connected, if you looked at the world in the way he was choosing to.

I see, in the way he thinks, the beginnings of an artist of some kind, for, like many artists, he is a great associator.

In any event, whatever he chooses to be (and he has shown the traits of an actor often enough, too), it will be entertaining to watch him grow up and hear him make his surprising observations, along the way.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Madonna's Adoption Bid

Madonna, the woman who needs no introduction, has been refused the right to adopt a child from Malawi. Chifundo "Mercy" James, a little orphaned girl, will grow up, not in a superstar's home, but in the orphanage she now lives in. The decision was made because the judge in the case, decided that allowing Madonna to adopt would send the wrong signal to human traffickers about how easy it was to secure a child in Malawi.



Now, some will cheer this decision, largely because they don't like Madonna or rich people in general. Some will cheer because they think it sends the right signal to traffickers. I, however, am not cheered by this decision, for one good reason: a child has been denied a loving family.



Chifundo "Mercy" James would have grown up with every advantage possible were she adopted by Madonna. She would "want for nothing". She would receive the best of educations. She would have the best of opportunities. Not only that but she would have a mother who very clearly loves to be a mother and would be a good, warm, nurturing presence in her life. Instead, however, she has the impersonal embrace of an orphanage and all the restricted opportunities that implies.



I rather feel that the judge in the case has not judged this case in particular, but used the case as an opportunity to make an international political point. He has sent a signal to traffickers that getting children out of Malawi might not be so easy. He has chosen to sacrifice the opportunity of one child to actually have a family, so as to prevent the trafficking of the children of Malawi - or at least reduce the perception that trafficking of such children is possible or easy.



Now, while I admire the judge's point and purpose - and agree that it is an important issue, I do feel that he should not have sacrificed Chifundo "Mercy" James' life happiness to make this point. There are other ways to do so. He could have used the publicity, in concert with his government to announce new restrictive laws on the movement of Malawi's children overseas. He could have made it clear that exceptions may be made where the prospects for the child are exceptional - such as they are with Madonna's adoption bid. He could have made it clear that it is only because Madonna offers a good life to Chifundo that the bid is being allowed. There was no need to block the bid to make the point he wished to make.



Apparently, the normal rule for adoption from Malawi, is that the adoptive parent should have lived in Malawi for eighteen months prior to the application. This eliminates almost all possible bids, of course - including Madonna's I presume.



I feel that the judge has not considered the beneficial aspects of an adoption by Madonna. Her celebrity parenting of a child from Malawi, would raise the profile, in the minds of potential parents, of adopting a child from Malawi. Many children who might otherwise have grown up in orphanages, may end up being offered homes, and families, as a result. It can only be good for Malawi to facilitate this.



It should be noted that Malawi is one of the world's poorest countries. Over half of its 12 million people live on less than 1 (yes ONE) dollar a day. Madonna would have been taking Chifundo "Mercy" James out of a situation with such bleak prospects and giving her the life of a daughter of a multi-millionaire (Madonna's fortune is estimated to run into hundreds of millions of dollars).



Madonna's adoption would have inspired many others to reach out to the orphanages of Malawi and give those unfortunate children a family. The rejection of Madonna's bid can only harm the prospects of all children, in the orphanages, who might otherwise have been adopted. Indeed, by rejecting Madonna's bid, the judge is sending an unintended message: "Trying to adopt a child in Malawi is an expensive waste of time and money and even the super-rich like Madonna can't do it, successfully."



What might have been a flood of adoptive parents, inspired by Madonna, may now be not even a trickle.



I think this decision was made for good reasons, but without good reasoning. The wider implications of the decision were not considered. The long-term effects of rejecting the bid for adoptive motherhood for even such an ostensibly well-prepared mother, shall harm, greatly, the prospects of all Malawi's parentless children.



My hope is that Madonna will appeal and that the appeal judge is one with broader vision of the issues at hand. Every orphaned child would be better off with a family, than without one. It should be the first priority of the judges to facilitate the union of orphaned child with willing parents.



Ironically, and perhaps tellingly, the judge's decision not to allow Chifundo "Mercy" James, the benefit of a mother, shows that the state, in Malawi, does not value the life of the individual. Yet, the state, is Chifundo's only parent, in effect, now. This is not encouraging on the issue of what kind of "parent" the Malawian state makes. Certainly, it would have been better for Chifundo to have Madonna as a mother, than to have the orphanage as her only parents. The same applies to any and all Malawian children: an adoptive parent is better than no parent at all. I only wish the judge could see that.



(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.



We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.



This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The way children understand.

Children are wonderfully open to experience. They allow themselves to do and see things few adults would do. 

The other day, Tiarnan started to explain a children's programme he had been watching on a DVD to his mother. With great animation and excitement he detailed for her, the plot of this film. He even accompanied his explanation with special effects sounds and gestures to illustrate the pictures he was painting. She listened intently.

What was funny about all of this, however, is that the DVD was in a language Tiarnan does not know: Thai. He had watched a Thai film and understood the plot of the film, enough to explain it to his mother, without having any access to the language at all. Few adults would, I feel, sit through an unsubtitled foreign language film, in an unfamiliar tongue. Fewer still would actually understand much of it or find it watchable, in any way. Tiarnan, however, was more than happy to watch it and more than able to focus on its strangeness and extract meaning from the, to him, "wordless" images. 

I am struck by this, how open Tiarnan is. When I compare him to adults I see closure in them, and openness in him. I would like to see him retain this openness, as he grows up, though I know it is customary for people to close down as they get older. In some ways, every adult should be like a child. I feel we would all be deeper, more learned, flexible people if that were so. Sadly, most adults are like adults - with all the limitations that implies. I wonder how this special quality of openness is lost along the way? Is it really necessary that we should all close down? 

Not only did Tiarnan watch the Thai film - but he later requested it repeatedly. He enjoyed it to the point of deliberately seeking it out. That indication of openness impressed me. 

Sadly, I don't think I could sit through a Thai film several times, without understanding it. Oh dear...I must have "grown up". 

Thank you, Tiarnan, for showing me a better way to be. 

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Deep thinkers or sheep thinkers?

Karl Albrecht, the writer on psychology, divides people into "deep thinkers" and "sheep thinkers". I thought this division was applicable to the situation in Singapore.

A deep thinker is one who thinks for themselves and is independent in their thoughts and conclusions from the mainstream of the society around them. They see things as they are. They understand what others do not.

A sheep thinker is one whose thoughts are acquired from the surrounding society: what they read in the media or hear from others. They don't realize that their thinking is determined by others and believe that they are thinking for themselves. However, they never think for themselves and, in fact, don't really think independently at all.

Now, Singapore's leadership has, in recent years, begun to urge its populace to "be creative". The aim is to create some kind of intellectual hub. However, there is a problem. For too long, Singapore has encouraged its people to be sheep thinkers. The way children are educated does not instill deep thinking, but produces sheep thinkers. There is a great pressure at all levels of society to conform - and so almost everyone does.

Karl Albrecht observes that all totalitarian societies have sought first to eliminate the deep thinkers, or control them, so that they would not awaken the rest of the society of sheep thinkers to reappraise their situation and come to understand it. Thus, these types of societies will try to create sheep thinking masses - just as Singapore has done. The problem for these societies however is that without deep thinkers, certain kinds of technological, scientific and cultural development will not occur: for sheep thinkers are thought followers, not thought leaders and will not create anything new.

If Singapore is to become a creative hub, it will have to start encouraging deep thinkers in its midst. This is something with which the system is unfamiliar. I wonder whether the system can really take the presence of true deep thinkers in its midst? Would the powers-that-be not be instinctively uncomfortable with such people and try to muffle them?

Singapore's education system is still creating sheep thinkers. I am curious as to whether this will change and deep thinkers will start to be fostered. We are at a cusp, in some ways. If Singapore wishes to have a creative culture, it will need deep thinkers. However, having deep thinkers makes the population less sheep like - and yet, sheep like is exactly what the government has tried to instill in its people for the last five decades. Basically Singapore can't have it both ways. They can either choose to be a creative hub and have deep thinkers...or remain as easily controllable sheep.

The question is: which will Singapore's government choose: the deep thinkers they know they need...or the sheep thinkers they know how to lead?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)