The death of a mentor.

Ainan's only real mentor, in Singapore, Dr. Ng Kok Chin, has passed away. I had not expected to write such words, so soon, but the fact is, Dr. Ng Kok Chin never recovered from the illness which struck him down in December 2008. He had spent the almost two years since then, in a coma and never awoke to the world, again, after a brain operation that did not go as well as had been hoped.

I have written before of our gratitude to Dr. Ng Kok Chin, in my post, "A word of gratitude". That post now stands as a testament to the great character of the man. If you wish to know more of Dr. Ng Kok Chin, read how I described him in that post.

Here I will say this: Dr. Ng Kok Chin was a greater support to us, in educating Ainan, than anyone else we ever met, in Singapore. He stood up for us, when others wouldn't. He advised us, when others couldn't be bothered. He fought for us, when all others lay around either doing nothing, or trying their best to be obstructive. He was a man of good character who really wanted to help Ainan become what he could be. To see him gone is tragic really, especially since he was not an old man. I don't know his age exactly, but apart from his grey hair, he did not look all that old. He still had many years left in him, if the world were a just place.

Dr. Ng Kok Chin was the orchestrator and organizer of Ainan's education at Singapore Polytechnic. When he fell into a coma, so too did Singapore Polytechnic: they stopped being supportive the moment Dr. Ng Kok Chin was out of the way. So, it was made most clear to us that it was he and he alone who supported Ainan's presence at Singapore Polytechnic and not anyone else there.

Dr. Ng Kok Chin believed in Ainan and championed him. We are grateful for that and will always remember his warm, gentle ways.

I wish he had been able to see what Ainan is becoming - but he never did and never shall. He would, I feel, have been pleased to know that his intervention was leading to greater things, for Ainan.

I have one sad memory of Dr. Ng Kok Chin that I feel I should relate. On one of the last occasions I ever saw him - perhaps the last, in fact - he spoke of how thankful he was that he held a job as an academic at Singapore Polytechnic. He was thankful because his job was secure, even in tough times. So, he told me, he did not have the fear of recession that many workers have. He knew that his job would always be there for him. He knew that he would be safe from retrenchment.

It is sad that, at the virtual end of his conscious life - for shortly thereafter he had the brain operation from which he never recovered - all he was thinking about was the security of his job and how that nothing would take it away from him. Little did he know, that something would not take the job away from him - but him away from the job. He had but days of consciousness at that time. Then he was gone, never more to know the world.

The memory is a sad one, for he was clearly planning for a future that was never to be. He was thinking of his job security in the years ahead and of how his particular kind of appointment would allow him to weather it. He had, it seems, no inkling that his conscious world was almost at an end and that his life, for all reasonable definitions of life, was soon to be ended - indeed, only days later, it was.

Whatever plans he might have had, that now will not ever be, I am committed to making one plan come true - for my own reasons, it is true, but he might be pleased to know it, too. Dr. Ng Kok Chin clearly planned to aid Ainan to his greatest fulfilment. He clearly planned to help him in whatever way he could. He wanted to see Ainan reach his potential. Well, I plan, at least, to do my best to ensure that that happens. Perhaps, I feel, that would have pleased Dr. Ng Kok Chin - for he could not have been more involved in helping Ainan along the way, than he was.

Thank you, Dr Ng Kok Chin for all that you did to help Ainan. We shall ever be grateful.

Rest in peace, my friend - for more than a mentor to my son, I considered him a friend, by the end. Thank you and goodnight.

(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.htmlI 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.

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

A word of gratitude.

We have reason to be grateful to a special man, who may never be able to read these words.

It seems long ago, now, when we first met Dr. Ng Kok Chin, of Singapore Polytechnic. He was Head of his own Chemistry department there. He was a man of medium height, but more than medium pleasantness. He had about him, the sense that he actually cared. We were introduced to him by one of his colleagues Priya Naidu, a lecturer that Ainan had met on a Nanotechnology workshop, at Singapore Polytechnic when he was 7. Our meeting was to discuss whether Ainan could join Singapore Polytechnic for regular Chemistry courses based in the laboratory. Dr. Ng Kok Chin's attitude was positive and welcoming, throughout. He seemed to be looking for ways to make it work, rather than seeking (as some people in such a situation would tend to), ways in which it wouldn't.

Though Ainan was 7 when we first met Dr. Ng Kok Chin, it was not until Ainan was 8 years and 4 months that he joined Singapore Polytechnic to do Chemistry courses, there. Ainan's mentor at SP was Dr. Ng Kok Chin - it was he who arranged the courses which Ainan was to attend and he who negotiated with all other parties at SP to make it all happen.

Ainan enjoyed his sessions at SP. He gained much from them, too - and became quite adept in the lab. These sessions were the highlights of his week. Typically he attended SP two days a week from April 2008. He fit into the classes well. His labmates treated him very kindly and he was very popular. We were very happy with how things were. Notably, Dr. Ng Kok Chin was always around to make sure things were going smoothly. He always took an interest in how Ainan was doing.

Then, things in early 2009, got very strange. Our emails to Dr. Ng Kok Chin, went unreplied to. Our calls to his answerphone met with no response. Suddenly, SP which had been so supportive, vanished from sight. Ainan's classes stopped. No-one contacted us about what was happening.

Months passed. Intermittently, I tried to contact Dr. Ng Kok Chin, to no avail. Finally, I wrote to his boss. A reply came slowly, after I had written twice. The mail was not a welcome one: Dr. Ng Kok Chin had fallen ill. We were later to find out that he had had a stroke and was now in a coma, from which we have no news of any recovery. It was very sad - and still is, for Dr. Ng was instrumental in opening doors for Ainan's scientific and intellectual growth.

Things never really recovered at SP, after Dr. Ng's tragic illness. After a long time, someone else was appointed to look after Ainan's courses there - but he didn't seem to have the interest in Ainan, that Dr. Ng had had. Things happened very slowly with Dr. Ng's replacement. He also didn't seem to have the same ability to get lecturers on side. Instead of four whole modules a term - as Dr. Ng had arranged for Ainan, his replacement eventually came up with a single class, on one occasion, at the end of the term. (It had taken him the whole term to arrange it).

In the holidays, after that class, we made enquiries about the arrangments for the following term, asking for the usual four classes to be arranged. Dr. Ng's replacement dragged his feet, and didn't make the necessary arrangements. Finally, we mailed the Director of SP with news of Ainan's latest success in Chemistry AS level. He didn't reply. His subordinate - the one assigned to replace Dr. Ng - replied after a week to do something most strange: he wrote to say that SP was withdrawing all support of Ainan and that there would be no more classes for him at SP.

We were stunned. It didn't make any sense. I had written to thank them for the support they had given Ainan and to tell them of his latest success - and they had replied by withdrawing all support of him, and removing his access to courses. It was the oddest thing they could have done. In my understanding of the world, a College when shown evidence of the progress of a child, in such a situation, would usually be more interested in, at the very least, maintaining support or expanding it - not withdrawing it.

I wrote to the Director of SP several times seeking an explanation. He never replied to me or acknowledged my mails, even once.

So, the essence of this story is that we have much reason to be grateful to Dr. Ng Kok Chin for masterminding Ainan's presence at Singapore Polytechnic - but we also have much reason to be doubtful about his colleagues and their intentions towards Ainan.

The story is more complex than it seems - in a sad sense. You see Dr. Ng Kok Chin, who was so supportive of Ainan is MALAYSIAN Chinese. He is not a Singaporean. Yet, he was very supportive and helpful towards Ainan. The senior staff who remained after Dr. Ng Kok Chin was gone are SINGAPOREAN. Yet, they were not supportive of Ainan, once Dr. Ng Kok Chin's influence was gone. To us, this seems very telling. In fact, recognition of this situation was our first clue that, perhaps, we should look to Malaysia for help for Ainan - for it had been a Malaysian, in Singapore, who had rendered most help to him.

Thus, we have two things to thank Dr. Ng Kok Chin for: the great support he gave Ainan at Singapore Polytechnic - and for inspiring us to look to his homeland for further support, once it dried up, at SP, upon his illness. So, it can be seen, that Dr. Ng Kok Chin played a key role in Ainan's development: he afforded Ainan the chance to learn practical skills - and guided us to seek further opportunities in Malaysia, even after he became ill.

Thank you, Dr. Ng Kok Chin, for your kindness towards Ainan. I hope you recover enough to read these words, one day. Best wishes from all of us.

We miss you, Dr. Ng.

(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/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

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

A day in the chemistry lab.

What does Ainan do at Singapore Polytechnic? Well, today he prepared tris(2, 4 pentanedionato)chromium (III).

The details of what he did to make it are not the subject of this post, what is, is a glimpse at the skills he is developing in working at SP. Firstly, before the laboratory session, he has a series of questions to answer in preparation. These are written down and handed in to be marked. There are matters to be explained, problems to be solved, situations to be examined, in these questions. There are also structures to be drawn. The skills acquired in doing them, are basically those of the theoretical side of chemistry. Then, there is the lab class, in which Ainan performs the experimental manipulations needed to synthesize the target material. This allows him to learn classical chemical techniques - the how of making chemicals in a lab. The results are recorded and handed in to be marked. Then, there is the lecture component of the class in which the lecturer delves into the deeper chemical issues in and around the substance of the day.

In all, I would say that the work at Singapore Polytechnic offers a good grounding in Chemistry, particularly in how to actually do it, rather than just sit around and talk about it.

Ainan is enjoying his time at Singapore Polytechnic - and is looking forward to expanding his studies into other areas in the coming semester.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven 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, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

A child prodigy's acceptance by others

On Friday, 23rd May, Ainan was at Singapore Polytechnic, working the Fragrance Chemistry lab.

As usual, he performed an experimental investigation along with his colleagues. Of course, the unusual thing about this is that these colleagues are two and a half times Ainan's age - or thereabouts. How does he get on with them? Astonishingly well, actually. He jokes with them - and they laugh at his jokes. He talks with them and invents activities as interludes while waiting for reactions to occur - which they join in, with him. He is treated as an equal. It is most reassuring to watch. Yet, sometimes this leads to strange occurrences.

At one point, a female student (who was from outside his normal group), pointed at a gap in Ainan's teeth and asked: "Why don't you have a tooth?"

I looked at her, a little surprised and said, softly: "Because he is of the age when children lose their teeth".

She looked stunned: "Oh...I forgot."

I thought the incident was very telling of how fully Ainan has been accepted by his fellow students. The fact that he is an eight year old has been completely forgotten by some of them. He has become, for them, just another student - though smaller than a typical one. His presence is now so normal for them, that they have come to forget his unique position - he has, therefore, managed to blend in, in a way, despite standing out, so clearly, physically.

I had thought that this situation would take a very long time indeed, to develop. I had thought that acceptance would be long in coming. However, it seems to have been almost immediate. One thing that has helped, I feel, is that Ainan is very comical and jovial. He always gets the other students laughing at his jokes and his observations. I suppose it makes it much easier for them to accept the "little kid" when he also happens to be funny.

This moment, for me, will become, I believe, an emblematic memory of Ainan's acceptance at the Polytechnic. Nothing could be more simple, nor more powerful an indication of his psychological acceptance by others, than that they should puzzle over the loss of one of his milk teeth.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven 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, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Berita Harian Singapore Polytechnic News.

Here is the article that appeared at the top of the front page of the Berita Harian, Singapore's leading Malay daily, on Tuesday, 13th May 2008.

He was also on the front page of Lianhe Wan Bao, one of the top Chinese dailies (I will try to locate a version of that).

As usual, I have pasted the article here, since Singapore's newspapers archive stories for only about 1 week.


BUDAK PINTAR LAPAN TAHUN DAPAT TEMPAT DI POLY S'PURA

Oleh Soraya Salim

BUDAK pintar ilmu kimia, Ainan Celeste Cawley, lapan tahun, telah mendapat tempat di Politeknik Singapura (SP). Dia dipercayai warga Singapura paling muda belajar di institusi pendidikan tinggi di sini.

SP menawarkan Ainan tempat awal tahun ini setelah ibu bapanya, Encik Valentine Muhammad Cawley, 40 tahun, dan Cik Syahidah Osma, 29 tahun, mencari universiti sesuai bagi anak sulung mereka itu tahun lalu.

Tiga minggu lalu, anak kacukan Ireland dan Melayu itu mula menghadiri kelas di Sekolah Kimia dan Sains Hayat SP, mengambil pelbagai modul kimia tahun pertama hingga ketiga yang dijalankan di makmal.

Ini termasuk modul tahun pertama kimia organik dan bukan organik serta modul tahun ketiga kimia wangian.

Menurut Cik Syahidah, di sesi pertama makmal Ainan membuktikan dia dapat memenuhi keperluan praktikal menjalankan ujian kimia walaupun dia seorang kanak-kanak.

'Bagi setiap sesi makmal, Ainan dipadankan dengan dua orang pelajar. Nampaknya dia tidak mempunyai masalah berinteraksi dengan mereka, malah dia sempat berjenaka dengan mereka,' katanya.

Ainan pula berkata: 'Ini pengalaman praktikal terbaik yang pernah saya lalui.'

Mengulas tentang keupayaan Ainan, Ketua Seksyen Kimia Analisis SP, Dr Ng Kok Chin, berkata: 'Ainan seorang budak yang amat pintar. Kami tidak pernah bertemu seseorang sepertinya sebelum ini.'

Antara eksperimen yang telah Ainan lakukan adalah menyediakan isoamyl acetate, atau minyak pisang, pengasingan limonen daripada buah-buahan sitrus - kedua-duanya eksperimen tahun ketiga - serta penghabluran semula (recrystallization) asid benzoic dan aspirin.
Malah, sempena Hari Ibu kelmarin Ainan mencipta minyak wangi khas untuk ibunya.

'Minyak wangi itu amat harum baunya. Ia hadiah Hari Ibu terbaik buat saya,' kata Cik Syahidah, yang mempunyai dua lagi anak lelaki, Fintan Nadym, empat tahun, dan Tiarnan Hasyl, dua tahun.

Oktober lalu Ainan mendapat pengiktirafan dalam Buku Rekod Singapura sebagai pelajar termuda Singapura lulus mata pelajaran Kimia dalam peperiksaan GCE peringkat 'O'.

Dia mendapat bagi subjek itu walaupun usianya ketika itu hanya tujuh tahun satu bulan. Setelah itu, ibu bapanya memohon kepada beberapa universiti tempatan dan luar negara tetapi ditolak kerana institusi-institusi itu tidak bersedia mengambil budak semuda itu.
Namun, Ainan berpeluang melakukan kerja-kerja praktikal di makmal kimia di Raffles Institution (RI) dan Maktab Rendah Raffles (RJC) serta Universiti Teknologi Nanyang (NTU).

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven 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, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Straits Times.com Videocast on Ainan

The Straits Times online site, straitstimes.com has a video cast, presently on its front page about Ainan. It concerns his admission to Singapore Polytechnic to do lab based Chemistry modules across the spectrum of Chemistry, in years one, two and three simultaneously.

It is to be found at:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Video+News/Singapore/STIVodcast_4159.html?playid=4159&type=Singapore

The link will probably only work for a couple of weeks since the site doesn't permanently archive vodcasts.

The video does not mention that Ainan is doing modules from year three, year two and year one. As a year three student at a tertiary institution he is most probably the youngest in the world to work at that level, at that age. Certainly, no-one has ever graduated from a tertiary institution young enough to have been in the final year at the age of 8.

Thank you.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven 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, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)