A wealthy man in the making?

I try to see, in my sons, the men they will one day become. I look for underlying attitudes, outlooks, beliefs, habits, and patterns that may persist through time and define the adults they will one day be. It is not something that I do with effort, but something which I do with reflexive automaticity. In gazing on them, today, I gaze, too, on the tomorrow that shall come, one day, in which our eyes are level and they are men.

Fintan, for instance, shows a particular attitude to money that foretells of richer days, for him. Fintan is not a great spender, of money, he is a saver. He gathers together the notes he is given, counts them, accumulates them, and puts them carefully away. He knows his personal wealth, to the dollar - and asks about such matters as whether he can open a local bank account, in Malaysia (he already has one in Singapore). He is not, as most children are, focussed on immediate spending and the transformation of temporary wealth into even more temporary pleasure. No. He thinks of growing his wealth, of becoming richer, by virtue of having more cash to hand. He forestalls spending and chooses instead to wait.

You might wonder why a little boy of seven is concerned with saving money. Well the other day, he gave a peep into his psychology. He mentioned that he wanted to put the money in a bank account so that "When I am bigger I can buy houses and cars..."

That is quite a surprising little plan for a little boy of seven years old. He is already planning for his lifestyle and trying to ensure his own security. He wants to make sure he has his own house to live in and his own car to drive - and he is starting NOW on the work necessary to get him there.

His mother studied him, a few nights ago, as he counted his money...and remarked: "You will be the richest of my sons, Fintan." He didn't look up from his counting, so intent was he on those numbers flashing through his mind.

Indeed, Fintan may be the richest son, one day - for he has the greatest interest in money and the most far sighted outlook towards it.

I am beginning to understand, about Fintan, that he has a very long term vision for his life. Though he is at the beginning of it all, his eyes look not on today, but on a far tomorrow, on a world that is not yet, and plans his place within it. Fintan is a man of tomorrow, living only temporarily as a boy of today. Fintan is already guiding himself through an adult world that is not yet, positioning himself for success within it and developing the attitudes and habits that will allow him to flourish.

I wonder at him, now. Why is he so intent on the future? Why does he not live, entirely, in the moment, as most little boys do? What is it about him that makes him so aware of the unseen parade of his life ahead of him?

As ever, I get the sense that Fintan may turn out to be a very surprising son, indeed. No boy who thinks so much of the man he is one day to be, can fail, at the very least, to lead an interesting life, in some way.

I look forward to whoever Fintan becomes and hope that I am around, to see it.

In the meantime, Fintan, keep on gazing on tomorrow!


(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.

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

Career ambition of a young man.

The young, today, have strange career ambitions, in some cases. A significant proportion of youngsters in the UK, for instance, believe that they will be pop stars. So significant is the proportion that believes this that, if it came true, there would be little audience to listen to their works: too many would be producing works, not enough would be of a mind to buy.

A few days ago, I asked a group of young Chinese mainlanders, living in Singapore, whether they would ever consider being a criminal. Of the seven of them, six said they would not consider it. The seventh, however, said: "Yes. I would like to be a criminal."

That gave me a pause. "What kind of criminal would you like to be?"

"All kinds."

"Why would you like to be a criminal?"

"Because I would like to try all jobs."

My silence urged him on.

"...and I think girls like a bad man. I want to be a bad man."

Ah...just so he could get the girls.

"Would you consider being a farmer, then?", I asked him.

"No."

So much for "trying all jobs."!

"Why not?"

"It is too boring."

I left the matter at that. Incidentally, most of the others who would not consider being a criminal, would consider being a farmer. One might conclude that criminal farmers would be in short supply in China!

What I found interesting about this young man's views on career choices, was that he revealed no contemplation of moral or legal matters. He was only concerned whether his "image" would be attractive to girls, or not. Perhaps he had been influenced by Hollywood and the Chinese equivalent (or Hong Kong equivalent) into believing that criminals were somehow alluring to women.

I rather hope that he doesn't act on his fantasy career choice, particularly given that he would like to try "all" types of crime. (I did note, however, that one girl said regarding his criminal career choice: "He is one." - and many of the others could be heard murmuring words to the effect that it was an appropriate choice, for him.)

There is another consideration. This is a small sample - just seven Chinese mainlanders...but I can't help but wonder whether, in importing so many of them, as Singapore is, that they might not be importing many people who are less law abiding than the very carefully controlled and groomed Singaporeans they are used to here. Of course, the young man's attitudes might be a rarity, but if not, Singapore might be in for a few surprises with its immigration policies favouring Chinese mainlanders over every other race and nation on Earth.

(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.)

Patrick Swayze's pancreatic cancer.

Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer, stage iv. Now, this is probably not news to most of my readers, but I thought his situation worth commenting on, in one aspect.

Patrick Swayze was diagnosed last year with stage iv pancreatic cancer. This is a terminal diagnosis. Only 1% of patients with this degree of disease are alive five years later. Thus, it could be said, that Patrick Swayze is very, very unlikely to survive very long. However, apparently he has already outlasted his doctor's estimate of his longevity by 100% (his doctor had given him six months).

Well, that is Patrick Swayze's health situation. It doesn't look good, but I wish him well. What drew my attention, though, was not that he had cancer but how he was coping with it. Patrick Swayze is doing what I consider to be quite unusual: he is working, as an actor, throughout his treatment. He is playing FBI agent Charlie Barker, in The Beast, a new tv show shooting in Chicago. So, despite having what most doctors would say was a terminal illness, he is working 12 hour days as an actor.

This tells me something special. Whatever one might think about Patrick Swayze's work and life (and I admit I haven't given it much thought), it does say that he is doing what he loves most. Here is a man who is spending what could be his last months, WORKING, as an actor. Think about that. How many of us would spend our last months working at the jobs we presently do. Ask yourself that question: if you had been told by your doctor that you had six months left to live, would YOU spend them at your workplace? Or would you find another way to spend your time?

Many of us would spend that time with our families, tidying up our affairs. Patrick Swayze has chosen to spend this time, perhaps his only time left, working on a TV set. For me, that means that Patrick Swayze must have chosen the perfect life for himself. He must be living what he most deeply wants to do. Otherwise, he would have found another way to spend these months, than at work.

Whether or not Patrick Swayze survives, therefore, there is an example in his life story for us all. Live your live as you would live it if you were dying. In other words, do what is most special to you, NOW...do what you would choose to spend your last months on, NOW...for these months may very well be your last months. One never knows on such matters.

Patrick Swayze is, no doubt, happy in what he does. He has made the choice to pursue acting despite the prospect of imminent death. That is a sign that however long or short Patrick Swayze's life might be, (he is 55) that he has chosen a good life for himself.

Can we all say the same?

How would you spend your last six months? If the answer is not at work, then that work is not truly you. The work you do does not fully and deeply express who you are. However, if you answered that you would continue working in your present job until you could work no longer, then you are living an ideal life, for you.

I would be interested in people's personal perspectives on this situation. How would you spend your last six months: would you continue doing what you are doing now, or would you change your life utterly?

If you would change it, perhaps that is the life you should now be living anyway.

(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 value of being gifted.

Someone arrived on my site, today, with what I regard as strange search terms: "IQ 130 - how much money make".

It wasn't the grammatical choices that concerned me terribly, but the underlying world view of such a query of the internet. I cannot discern whether this is someone who has just had their IQ tested and is wondering how much money they will make in later life, or someone just interested in how much such a person would make. I can tell this, however: they haven't truly understood what being gifted means and the opportunities it presents.

Giftedness is not about money-making. If it was, the richest people would be the smartest - and oddly, they are usually not. They are "smart enough" to run their businesses, but not necessarily as smart as some of the people they employ. Their primary gifts are not necessarily in intellectual areas at all. No: richness and wealth do not equate. Wealth comes from a certain approach to life, in some cases one that others may not agree with - but it is not the inevitable product of intelligence. They are some rather dim rich people and some rather bright poor ones. Though, generally speaking, someone of high intelligence will do "alright" financially - though not necessarily as well as their not-so-bright but more money minded sibling/classmate.

Giftedness presents opportunities for doing things other than make money. It provides the opportunity to do something special. A gifted person who was also creative might write a novel, create a new product/invention, compose music, start a new business, in a new niche, propose a new scientific theory and any number of possible contributions. A gifted person who was not creative might make an outstanding accountant, lawyer or doctor - or any other professional in which intelligence, but not necessarily creativity, was required.

Giftedness is about doing something better than others could - or doing something outside the norm if creatively gifted. If there is money to be made by doing so, it is not usually the primary goal of a gifted person.

Gifted people are usually deeper than to choose the one-dimensional aspiration of "making as much money as possible". If someone's aspiration is to do just that, they are not usually particularly gifted, in my observation, because they have not seen a deeper meaning to life than material acquisition - and so are usually not the brightest of the bright.

A gifted person will often find a goal for their life that is unusual, a goal that others might not understand, but which, if attained, or even just pursued, will add to life in a unique way. That is a better contribution to life and the world, than just amassing the greatest possible fortune.

A gifted person is many things - but the one thing they are usually not, is a money-making machine. That latter accomplishment is usually left to those who are not as bright, but are much more switched on by the drive to amass money.

Linus Pauling, the Chemist and double Nobel Prize Winner, didn't make much money (apart from his Nobel Prizes). There are many, many far less bright people who were much richer. A typical American doctor, for instance, would be much richer than Pauling was. Money-making wasn't Pauling's primary objective: expanding the reaches of science was.

Pauling's life provides an example as to why the most gifted are usually not the richest: their life objectives are higher ones than making money. Any money they make is incidental to the higher calling that is their life's devoted goal.

Were there no people like Pauling - people devoted to their subject or cause, the world, as a culture, would be much the poorer. These gifted people make life richer for all of us, if not for themselves, by their contributions.

Gifted people will often live rich lives in ways not measurable by money. Their lives are rich in experiences, contributions, ideas, projects, new things done and great goals achieved. It is for these things that we should look to them, in admiration - not their yachts and mansions (which they probably won't have).

Society needs gifted people whose goals are other than making money. These gifted people may make ideas that change life for the better for many or for all - and such people are of greater value, therefore, than the world's plutocrats, most of whom don't make much real difference at all. (They do what would be done anyway, without adding anything new).

Some societies drill their gifted young people to aim for money as their highest goal. Singapore is one such place. I wonder how limiting that is, in the way they go on to lead their lives. If a nation's gifted people have the one-dimensional aspiration of money-making as their sole goal, then that nation will never truly shine. Perhaps that explains the way Singapore is: a nation whose gifted people are not encouraged, or even allowed, to have higher goals than the pursuit of wealth. The result is clear to see.

It is telling that the searcher who came to my site with those words: "IQ 130 how much money make" was searching from a Singaporean IP address.

It is time that the education system, here, instilled a deeper set of values than the almighty dollar and its pursuit. The dollar is not the meaning of life - and if it becomes so, the life that is led is ultimately fruitless, and shallow.

They are many other values which a nation could impart to its young. There are many other things in life of value than just money alone. Perhaps it is time for the dollar obsessed nations of the world - of which Singapore is one - to urge their young to look to these other values, too, so that some might choose a deeper path for life.

Oh, by the way, an IQ of 130 is probably enough to make as much money as you might wish for - if the moderately gifted person chooses the right area in which to apply their minds. Some very rich people don't appear to be any brighter than 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.)

Career ambitions of Vietnamese students.

I am privy to an informal survey of the ambitions of Vietnamese students. They make curious reading.

Of a group of twenty young students aged from 12 to 17, a number of interesting career choices were made - and a couple of worrying omissions, too.

Two out of twenty wanted to be scientists, which is encouraging; three wanted to be business people (two boys, one girl); four wanted to be doctors, one wanted to be a lawyer (a girl), two wanted to be architects (a boy and a girl); two wanted to be inventors (both boys); one wanted to be President (a boy); one wanted to go into computers; one wanted to be in Public Relations (a girl); one wanted to be an artist (a girl) and one just wanted to sleep (a boy, usually sleeping in class, or trying to.)

The interesting omissions were that none of the twenty wanted to be a teacher - and none of them wanted to be an engineer, of any kind.

If these children are representative of the attitudes of Vietnamese youth, there is some hope - and some concerns. The hope is that quite a few of them chose creative professions: artist, architect, scientist and inventor - amounting to 35% of the class. The concern is that Vietnam might be a country with few teachers - or teachers who wished they were doing something else.

I don't know what role models they have for engineers in their society - but, since engineers create the structural backbone of a society that it is not among their aspirations is a worry, for Vietnam.

Amusingly, the boy who wanted to be President is the second laziest in class (second only to the one who likes to sleep): he also appears to be one of the least bright. He does, however, have big dreams and is quite clearly able to imagine himself in the role.

Interestingly, none of them would admit, at first, to being ambitious in any way: it seemed not the thing to aspire to. They would only answer when asked, more directly, what they wanted to do in their lives.

(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.)

I am not a Chemist.

The headline is an important statement that must be understood, if Ainan is to be understood.

It has come to my attention that some people assume that Ainan's interest is an echo of my own. I have had people assume that I am, in fact, a Chemist - and that Ainan's pursuit of the subject is just him either aping his Daddy or being indoctrinated by him. Neither proposal is true. Ainan chose Chemistry, it was not chosen for him.

When I was very young I, too, was interested in Chemistry. Yet, I didn't introduce Ainan to it. It never occurred to me to do so. Ainan introduced himself to Chemistry. He taught himself at first, without any influence from either of his parents. In recent months, he has begun looking at other sciences, too. This, again, is his doing - a need to explore more widely, as well as deeply (for he continues to explore Chemistry). Again, it is Ainan that is leading - he is the one who lays down his own fields of interest and begins to address them.

I was a type of scientist once - a physicist. So, if I were forming Ainan's interests it would be to that subject I would have led him. I certainly would not have led him to a subject other than my own prior core interest.

So, Ainan is a Chemist because he wants to be one. Ainan is exploring other sciences, now (including Physics) because he wants to explore them. Ainan is his own path-chooser.

I address this issue because I was surprised to learn that even relatives of mine made the assumption that Ainan was doing what I wanted, rather than what he wanted. Frankly, I was surprised at that for many reasons - not least of which is that I think it is impossible for a child to perform at a high level in an externally chosen area. They would not have the drive to mastery if it was imposed from without: their own curiosity must be the guiding force.

(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.)

The ambition of Singaporean students.

I would like you to think what the most commonly stated ambition of a group of Singaporean scholar students might be. Consider the question as broadly as you like and genuinely give it some thought.

I ask this because my wife is teaching a group of "scholars" and asked them this question today. She was quite surprised by the answer that came back from almost all of them. Not for them, the big job and the flashy cars, not for them the global travel, wealth and fame. No. They wanted none of these things.

Do you know what this group of top students in Singapore professed their ambition to be?

"To sleep".

That just about says it all, for this particular educational system: poor things!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, 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, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The David Beckham of Singapore

Why doesn't Singapore have a David Beckham? Why are there no internationally illustrious sports stars? Well, recently I heard a story that provides a perfect explanation.

If you are a regular of my blog, you will recall a story I told you about a lecturer, who was an "expert in raising children", who spoke of toughening up the children of Singapore. He also spoke of something else.

He told a tale of a young Singaporean who loved to play football. Every day he would be out with his friends practising, or honing his skills, by himself. It was, for him, non-stop football. It was his consuming passion. Yet, his parents were not happy. He was not doing well at school. He neglected his books. They wanted him to study. So, they began to badger him. They involved professionals, too, to coax him back to the books. Their nagging and persuasions began to tell on him. Finally, one day, he stopped playing football and started to study. The football remained unused at home. No longer did he kick it daily. Instead, he began to apply himself to his books.

His parents were elated. They had won. No longer was their son "wasting his time" on football, now, he was deploying himself usefully at his studies. The lecturer seemed most pleased to be able to recount this tale of victory of the education system, over the frivolity of football. Yet, I saw something else entirely in that tale. They had persuaded an indifferent student, with no great interest in academia, to try harder at his studies - but at the expense of his lifelong passion. I doubt, very much, that he was happy studying, instead of playing football. I doubt he got that much out of it, too. Yet, because he had conformed, his teachers and his parents were happy. He was now doing what they wanted.

As anyone of imagination can see, however, there is a price to all this. Let us look at his future. Is it a better future to be an indifferent academic, with so-so grades, reluctantly acquired, than to be a passionate, experienced footballer, who lives for his sport? Which is the better life for him? Could he not have become a professional footballer? After all, even Singapore has professional football teams. Would he not have been happier as a footballer, than as anything else? Would he not, perhaps, have been more successful as a footballer than as anything else?

No-one should deny their passion, in life - nor allow others to persuade them not to pursue it. You see, I believe there is a reason for that passion. If you have such high motivation for something and love doing it - it is usually because you have a gift for it. You are expressing yourself more truly through doing what you love, than through doing what others wish you to. That boy is a born footballer. He should be a professional sportsman. If he had been a born academic, that would have been his passion - but it is not.

I think a great mistake has been made and a boy will not now, grow up to live his dream. Once again, in Singapore, we see the narrowness of its values, the limited range of what is permissible. A boy cannot be a footballer, here. He must be an academic. Well, tell that to David Beckham - and his parents. Beckham was a child whose early life was very similar to this Singaporean boy's: he lived for football, practised all the time, was forever out on a field with his "mates". What was the result? He became one of the most famous sportsmen in the world and is probably worth hundreds of millions of dollars (considering that his latest pay package is in the region of a quarter of a billion dollars for the contract period of a few years). Which is better then: to be a multi-millionaire sportsman - or to be a reluctant academic, with an average career thereafter?

Most Singaporean parents would never see the possibility of the former and will always push for the latter. Everyone plays safe. That is why Singapore doesn't have a David Beckham - and it never will, for as long as local values remain so narrow in their focus.

I only hope the boy starts to play football again - and auditions for a professional team. He would be a lot happier and fulfilled, that's for sure.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, 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, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Prince Charles on Human Achievement.

In 2004, Prince Charles commented on the aspirations of young people today. His comments were widely reported and were critically attacked. Many people thought he was trying to say that people shouldn't try to rise above their station, in life. They thought he was being, in some way, feudal. However, I don't think he really intended that. Let us look at what he is quoted to have said:

"What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities? This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of child-centred system which admits no failure. People think they can all be pop stars, High Court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability. This is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially engineered to contradict the lessons of history."

He is observing what is evident in young people in the Western world (and perhaps elsewhere, too): they seem to think they are going to be great. By this, I mean, that a typical teenager believes he or she is going to be one of the things that Prince Charles refers to: a pop star, a TV personality, a High Court Judge, a Head of State. One could extend the categories: a film star, a footballer, a millionaire (a billionaire), a model...etc, etc...Young people of today think their success is assured. They think that they stand above others now and ever will in the future. From the perspective of an experienced adult, who has actually seen the world in action, such an abundance of exuberant ambition is sobering to witness. It is sobering precisely because it is unrealistic.

What Prince Charles was grappling with is the simple fact that all of these aspirations that the children hold, require something most of the children will not have: natural ability, for one, and often a degree of willingness to work hard towards one's goals. For instance, any child can kick a ball. Many a child can dream of being the next David Beckham - but how many of those children actually have a significant athletic ability? How many of them have signicantly greater an athletic ability than their fellow children? How many of them, furthermore, are willing to hone their skills and their bodies through long years of training? Very, very few, indeed, I expect. They see the glamourous end: the famous footballer jetting about the world, from game to game, enchanted fans in hot pursuit. What they don't see is what that footballer had to go through to get there. They are able to envisage the beautiful life they would have, as a famous footballer, but not the life that is actually led to reach those goals.

Prince Charles was much criticized for his views - but I don't think that people were right to do so. I think that the media, in general, failed to understand what he was trying to say. He was saying that the youth of today had aspirations beyond their ability to achieve them. They aspired to be famous film stars, when they couldn't act and were not beautiful. They aspired to be pop stars, when they could neither dance nor sing, and did not delight the eye. They aspired to be High Court judges, when their academic prowess was only mediocre at best. His view is that the children had unrealistic expectations. His view was that the school system, which never chastised the children for mediocrity, never used the word "failure" in their general direction, did not acquaint the children with the idea that failure was possible. While this is good for self-esteem, it may lead to children who have unjustifiably high self-esteem. These are children who really, really, really, believe in themselves - but who really, really, really, lack justification for that self-belief. It was Prince Charle's implicit view that this situation was not rare, but common. Most youngsters of today fell into that trap. Most of them thought of themselves as great people, for whom great success was assured. Sadly, of course, almost all of them are going to fail. Statistics alone guarantee it. If you have a nation of 60 million people of whom 20 million aspire to be film stars and that nation only has enough room for 20 such film stars in that generation...how many are going to fail in their aspiration? 999,999 out of every 1,000,000. Only one in a million will see their dream come true. It is the same for all their other aspirations. So many people will be aspiring to their positions of success than there are places in those respective realms. The result is, of course, that almost all of them are destined for failure in their primary goals. Almost all of them will have to revise their goals, along the way, and settle for something else.

This is the reality of which they are unaware that, I think, Prince Charles was trying to awaken them to. The modern media world has conditioned people to believe that great success is available to all. The modern media creates stars out of nobodies, through reality shows. The modern media creates the belief in people that celebrity and wealth and a life of ease, are available to all, when in fact that they have always been and always shall be available only to the few. This is the "lesson of history" to which I think he refers. Great success has always been a rarity and always will be.

Prince Charles is not saying that people should not rise above their station - as some media criticized him. He is saying that they should have a realistic understanding of who they are, so that they might aspire to something they can actually achieve. A life spent chasing pop stardom when one doesn't have the requisite and multiple, native abilities, is going to be a life wasted. What if that person has, instead, other skills that might be better employed as a nurse or a doctor? Then that person really should look at the medical field. It is a question of finding a good match, in terms of career, for who you are. Too many people waste their lives aspiring to dreams that have no realistic possibily of coming true, simply because the people in question lack the requisite abilities.

Thus there is wisdom, not foolishness, in Prince Charles' advice.

Aim for what is a reasonable choice, for you. Do not aim for iconic cultural roles such as footballer or film star - unless you really have what it takes to succeed in such fields.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and six months, and Tiarnan, twenty-three 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, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The career ambition of a young child

It is a cliche, throughout the Western world that many children want to grow up to be firemen or policemen (or the like). I suppose this is because these figures seem to play such a dramatic role in the tv dramas and stories children are aware of. Such people seem to have interesting, heroic lives and are, of course, in a tv show, or a story in a book, at the centre of the action.

Fintan's ambition, however, is a little different, though it shares one characteristic: his ambition is of someone at the centre of things, too, though in a rather more chaotic way.

We asked Fintan, four, in early December, what he wanted to be when he grew up.

His answer? "Mr. Bean."

I thought that funny and interesting, but the question is why would he wish to be Mr. Bean? It is clear that Mr. Bean is funny...but not intentionally so. It is also clear that Mr. Bean is different from the people around him. Perhaps that is part of the attraction. There is no-one, in real life, like Mr. Bean. Then, again, another thought occurs to me. Perhaps he means to be a performer, like Rowan Atkinson, the real life actor behind Mr. Bean.

It is unclear why he would like to be Mr. Bean, when he grows up. I shall have to ask him.

Note: For those who live in countries that don't receive the Mr. Bean tv shows, Mr. Bean is an idiosyncratic man, who doesn't speak, but interacts with the world in a logical but absurd fashion. His solutions to problems are always just the wrong way to get something done - even though there is reason behind them. (For instance, trying to paint a room quickly by putting an explosive into a pot of paint and letting it off.)

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and five months, and Tiarnan, twenty-two 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The infinity of chemical knowledge

I have, at times, wondered about the future of my sons. What, for instance, shall Ainan become? What will he do? Will there be anything left for him to do, in his discipline, once he takes his place in it?

Presently, Ainan, 7, looks set to be a chemist. Yet, he is also showing signs of interest in other physical sciences, too: in Physics, Maths, Material Sciences, Geology, Astronomy and Nanotechnology. However, it is true to say that almost all his attention, thus far, has been given to Chemistry, among the sciences. I thought it important, however, to mention the other nascent interests, lest they, one day, become central ones, to him. One never knows on these matters.

So, then my thoughts turned to Chemistry. It is a mature science. It's basic principles are well known - so what is there left to do, for a young chemist, in such an arena? Well, it doesn't take much thought to realize something very, very different about Chemistry, compared to the other sciences. Chemistry is infinite. I mean this in a very real sense. Just think about it. There necessarily must be an infinite variety of possible molecules, since most atoms can, in some way, combine with many others, in structures of unlimited designs. Chemistry is a never-ending subject.

Other sciences, like Physics, have, one supposes, a limited set of possible information. The physical world is describable by physics - but that description is most probably not infinite. I would be very surprised if it was. The physical world is, it appears, reducible to a finite set of laws, applied in a wide, but not infinite variety of circumstances. One day, if Mankind is smart enough (or at least if one genius in the whole of history, male or female, is smart enough - the rest of us can play catch up), then Physics will one day be a fully known subject. We will, at that time, be able to describe the world and its workings in a set of physical laws which, no doubt, would not fill too many pages of too many books. All of physics will then be known. It is possible to conceive of this for physics - and even for biology (there not being an infinite variety of principles at work in life, either - or instances of it (though artificial life might change this to a great degree) and the other sciences - but, for Chemistry, such complete knowledge is, in principle, impossible. No matter how many chemicals are known and understood, there will always be others that can by synthesized, with new properties and possibilities. Chemistry can never be fully known.

Thus, although Chemistry is a mature science, although we think we understand it well - it cannot be said to be complete. It is only just beginning. I recently read one estimate that 19 million chemicals have been synthesized and defined, in Chemistry, so far. Furthermore, the rate at which new chemicals is being synthesized and defined is doubling every 13 years or so. Thus by the end of this century we will know of billions of chemicals. Yet, even then, Chemistry will just be beginning. Set against an infinity of possible chemicals and structures, a knowledge of billions is nothing. The fact is, Mankind, even if it endures for the entire Universe, will never know the fullness of Chemistry. Sure, we will know a lot. The possible things we can do with all these chemicals will be forever increasing, but we will never get to a point where there is nothing more to be done.

I find this heartening. Yes, my son, Ainan, is becoming a Chemist at a time when Chemistry appears mature - but there remains an infinite amount to be done - and this will always be the case.

So, I find myself relaxing on the issue of Ainan's future. There is still, yet, a need for Chemists in this world - and there always will be, for Ainan has chosen one of the few infinite subjects, for his attention - and that is a bit of a relief.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, and Tiarnan, eighteen 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, genetics, left-handedness, chemistry, science, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)