YOG and Singapore's strange priorities

Singapore is a wealthy country, supposedly. I say "supposedly" because sometimes they say they haven't got any money. That was what we were repeatedly told, when we sought educational provision for Ainan. The Gifted Branch said: "There are no resources available" and "Chemistry classes are resource intensive." and the real kicker: "Why don't you find a private school and pay for it yourself?" We did. They wanted 600 dollars an hour for a lab class for Ainan! I don't know about you, but we couldn't pay that.

Now, we have already ascertained, from our experience, that the supposedly rich Singapore was unwilling to allocate sufficient resources to accommodate one prodigious child, educationally. So, it must, in fact, be a truly cash strapped nation, then? It must be a nation on the edge of financial collapse. Or perhaps, Singapore doesn't want a half-Malay boy to succeed and become an example to his particular minority race.

Imagine, then, my surprise when I learned that Singapore has spent 290 million US Dollars, so far, on the Youth Olympic Games, being held there. How odd. Surely Chemistry classes, for one child, would not have cost 290 Million US Dollars? Perhaps Chemistry teachers are much better paid than I had thought.

It is easy to see what is happening here. Singapore is able to make a goodly fraction of a billion dollars available, to host a high prestige event and draw global attention to itself...but it is not able to ensure the adequate intellectual growth of a single unusual child. Why? Because they don't see the prestige in it. They don't see any status raising, in it. There is not, in short, enough "gloss" in it, for them. Singapore is the land where substance, is always sidelined, for show.

The funny thing is, of course, that they did not have the imagination to see that Ainan's achievements also brought a lot of attention onto Singapore...and a whole lot more cheaply than the massive Youth Olympic Games did.

290 million US Dollars is a lot of money. Imagine if the top 1000 most promising children in Singapore were given an equal slice of that money. That would be 290,000 US Dollars each. That is enough to buy each of them the best educations in the world. Would that not make more true, substantial difference to Singapore than the froth of seeing young sportsmen and women - or sports girls and boys, prancing their stuff?

Now, I don't wish to be misunderstood. I have characterized the YOG, before, as an important outlet for young sports people to begin to make their mark in their necessarily short careers. So, I do support the idea. However, I think some things are more important, to a nation that wishes to be worthy, than that.

So, by all means have the YOG - but only AFTER you have fully satisfied all the educational needs, special or otherwise, of your citizens.

Some say that Ainan is not a Singaporean...well, he was born one, and so, in my view of what a country should provide for its natives, he should have been adequately provided for, educationally. He wasn't. Instead we have the Youth Olympic Games.

The expensive presence of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore proves one thing: there ARE resources available in Singapore...plenty of them. They are just not available to help promising kids realize their promise. At least, not intellectual kids...only for overseas young athletes to show theirs.

It should be noted that the Youth Olympic Games is three times over budget. This is quite telling. When the YOG organizers ran out of money, were they told: "There are no resources available." No. They weren't. They were given three times as much money as they had stated in their initial budget. You see, the world's eyes are on the YOG and Singapore...so Singapore will spend ANY amount of money necessary to make themselves look good in the world's eyes. Rather myopically, however, what they didn't realize, when they decided to be so stingy in support of Ainan, is that the world's eyes were on them, in his case, too - and what they eventually saw, did not make Singapore look wise, generous or far-sighted. It showed that Singapore lacked vision, or the ability to see the potential for long term benefit to Singapore, that Ainan represented. I use the past tense, because he has left, now, owing to their failure to support him.

It is very cheap to enable a gifted child to reach their fullest potential. It doesn't cost much. The educational infrastructure is already in place. All it takes is the willingness to make it available to the child. Singapore didn't have that willingness. It would have cost them, in truth, very little to do so. It has cost them much more, not to do so...and that cost can only grow over time, as Ainan contributes to other countries, in his life and not the one he was born in.

Singapore does have the "resources", to support every special child. One reason is that there simply aren't that many of them. The cost of doing so is certainly no greater than the amount of money magically materialized for the Youth Olympic Games. Perhaps this is another indicator that Singapore really doesn't want a homegrown intellectual class - because it is not willing to invest in growing one. It would rather have a glitzy international show, to spotlight Singapore. It would rather "invest" in its Formula One Night Racing and its Youth Olympic Games. What a shallow nation it is. It would rather support showmen than future thinkers. Thus, of course, it will get what it wants, ulimately: a nation that plays host to international gloss, but which has no INTELLECTUAL gloss of its own.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)