Is Macaulay Culkin still alive?

The question is not my own. Today a searcher arrived on my blog with the terms: “Is Macaulay Culkin still alive today in 2011”. That gave me pause. However, another similar question compounded it: twice in the last couple of days I have had searches for the former child prodigy Kim Ung Yong: “Kim Ung Yong, Date of Death” and “Kim Ung Yong Died...”. They are basically the same search. They embody the assumption of death, for someone who was once prominent and famous, but who now leads a quieter, less public life.

What is really sobering about these searches is where the Macaulay Culkin search was from: Grove City,Ohio, in the United States. One would have thought that an American would know that Macaulay Culkin was still alive...but apparently not. I didn’t note where the Kim Ung Yong searchers were from.

The stories of Kim Ung Yong and Macaulay Culkin have certain similarities. They were both famous as children. They both showed great promise. Then they both elected, as adults, to lead more discrete, less prominent lives as adults. In both cases it is not clear to what extent this is choice or happenstance. Whatever the case, they have both slipped from public view – yet both are still alive.

It is interesting that some members of the public assume that these once prominent children have died, since they are no longer prominent as adults. This is quite sad and speaks of the expectations of the general public towards such figures. Everyone has a right to conduct their lives as they wish. If a person who is famous as a child, wants a quieter life as an adult – then that is their choice. They should be free to make that choice. It seems, however, that, in some quarters they are not. The simple fact that they have chosen a less public adult life leads to the assumption that they must have died young. They didn’t die. What died was their wish to sustain a public image and presence.

Macaulay Culkin has largely stopped acting. We don’t know the reasons for this. Kim Ung Yong, has chosen to work as an academic in a minor provincial University, rather than have a more visible position. He has published 90 papers in his field, hydraulics. So, he continues to contribute – but in an area that is not high profile or likely to attract attention.

I feel the public should not expect anything of such people. They should let them be and choose their own lives – even if these lives might disappoint the expectations of those who followed them as children. Everyone’s life, is their own – and is not lived for public consumption.

So, carry on living quietly, Macaulay Culkin and Kim Ung Yong. Enjoy your lives in the way you want – even if some people out in the world, think you are dead because of it. None of it matters. The perceptions of strangers do not count. What counts is whether Macaulay Culkin and Kim Ung Yong enjoy the lives they lead. I hope they do. They should also be allowed to live those lives in peace and free from public pressure.

So, just be what you please, Culkin and Kim. I, for one, believe in your right to do so. Have happy lives.

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Julia Gabriel Centre and age discrimination.

A few months ago, we enquired at the Julia Gabriel centre, here in Kuala Lumpur, as to whether our son, Tiarnan, four, could join a drama class. Now, those of who have read much of this blog, will know that Tiarnan is rather partial, instinctively, to the ways of an actor: he is a boy of much imagination, given to constructing alternate realities to play in. He has also been on TV, in a reality show, so he is comfortable before a camera. We thought, therefore, that he would benefit from a drama class. However, it was not to be.

The teacher at the Julia Gabriel centre was teaching a class of five year olds, supposedly introducing them to drama. Guess what she said on hearing that four year old Tiarnan was set to join the class? We had told them that he was bright, verbal and given to acting and that he had been on TV. So, just have a guess at what her response was.

Well, she refused to allow him to join the class, saying: “I wouldn’t know how to teach a four year old.”

Err…how dumb, for a teacher to say that, I thought. The only differences between Tiarnan at four and most children at five, is that Tiarnan is brighter, more verbal, more imaginative, more attentive and EASIER to teach. Apparently, this “teacher” didn’t know that there is a lot of individual variability between children and that age is not an effective guide as to behaviour or ability.

This response of the teacher, however, taught us something. It taught us that she would not be a suitable teacher for our son, anyway. No-one who knew so little about children as to dismiss a four year old, because they were not five, is just not suited to teaching our children anyway – or anyone’s children for that matter. Thus, when Tiarnan turns five, we would be unlikely to seek drama classes for him at the Julia Gabriel centre because he would probably end up in a class taught by just this particular dumb teacher. That would, most probably, be a waste of time.

This incident brought home to me, however, just how common the stereotyping of children by age is – and just how little understanding there is among, even teachers, about the intellectual variability of children. Age lockstep education is ALWAYS a bad idea, since it ALWAYS leads to underchallenged – or overchallenged children. The only type of education that makes sense, is education by ability, not by age. Sadly, the whole world’s education is done by age stereotyping, with very few exceptions.

Anyone who knew Tiarnan would know how dumb that teacher was to turn him down, without even meeting him, when he was more than capable of doing her class. Just this type of educational injustice is occurring all over the world, to millions of children, even as I write.

Let education be by ability and interest – and let age be nothing more than what it is: a number that increases in proportion to our time on this Earth – and nothing more.

Rather ridiculously, we were unable to find a drama class for Tiarnan, at four, anywhere in KL, that we knew of. Does the education system think that he learns more by NOT attending a class to match his interest? That is the effect of age discrimination. Perhaps, there would be wisdom in a law to ban age discrimination in education, just like there are laws in many parts of the world, to ban age discrimination in the work place. We would then see a world in which children ended up classes suited to their abilities, and not their ages and social stereotypes. I hope, one day, to see such a world. Tiarnan would be happier in such a world too.

We may have some time to wait…

It's a mad, mad, world.

Yesterday, I was on the MRT with Tiarnan. The MRT, for those who don't know, is the train: the Mass Rapid Transit, of Singapore. The nearest equivalent would be the London Underground, though the MRT is mostly overground, as far as I can see.

Anyway, there I was, carrying Tiarnan, three, for the whole journey, because no-one would give up a seat and Tiarnan was unwilling to stand on the floor, in such a crowded train. Now, there is nothing unusual, in Singapore, with no-one giving up a seat for someone more in need of one: this is the tradition here, so that didn't surprise me (though it was unpleasant to have to carry him for the whole, quite lengthy journey, on two different trains). Were it not for the entertainment of talking to Tiarnan, the journey would have seemed a long one, encumbered as I was.

After we had been travelling about half an hour, Tiarnan remarked, in some irritation:

"Many people are talking!"

Sure enough, they were. Everyone was trying to talk at once, each competing with all the others to be heard: it was a cacophony of voices in different tongues: English, Malay and Chinese. It was pretty loud, actually.

"Why are they talking, Tiarnan?"

I wanted his views, you see, because they are often interesting.

He looked around him then, in stupefaction at his fellow travellers and said, with an intensity worthy of Hamlet:

"It's madness, madness, madness, ALL MADNESS!"

He was so intent, so focussed, so impassioned, in his view of how his fellow travellers were, that I did not laugh, I thought it, instead, sweet and typically Tiarnan.

We finished our journey together in mutual agreement that everyone around us was utterly bonkers. Any three year old can 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.

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Drama at the restaurant.

Tiarnan is a funny boy: just watching him is a form of entertainment all of its own.

On the 20th May, Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, was sat with his brothers in a malay restaurant. He duly waited with watchful eyes and eager stomach, for the food that would come. (He is little, but a big eater).

In due course, roti pratas (a traditional, circular, fried bread) arrived and were placed in front of his brothers Ainan and Fintan. (For whatever reason they are fond of this unhealthy fare).

Tiarnan looked at the empty table in front of him, then looked across at the full table in front of them, in shock. His hands came out to his sides in dismay. Then he got angry...really angry, his face reddening, the cords on his neck showing. Finally, he put his head down on the table, utterly put out to have been ignored in this way.

His mother was a little concerned to see him so upset, yet there was nothing she could do, for Tiarnan can't eat wheat - it doesn't agree with him. He knows this, of course and has never been allowed to eat roti prata. Ever is it his lot to watch his brothers eat this oddly prized food.

So, there Tiarnan lay, slumped across the table sulking. Suddenly, a pair of mischievous eyes looked sidelong from the top of his arms, to see just who was watching him. At once it was clear: it had all been a performance - Tiarnan was playing with his emotions, to make a point. He had managed to convince everyone that he meant it - until that final moment, when he could no longer resist the temptation to peek.

What a funny boy. Perhaps he should be an actor - for he is certainly showing the core skills and dispositions of one. We will see: right now, he is a most entertaining toddler to have around.

(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 incredible disappearing Daddy.

A couple of days ago, perhaps in remembrance of my days as an actor, I changed my voice, for Tiarnan and spoke to him, in character.

This quite perturbed him. He looked up at me and slapped my legs with his hands, not hard, but complainingly. "I want Daddy!", he demanded.

I thought this very revealing. For him, once my voice changed, I was no longer his Daddy, I was someone else.

I did it again - and got the same reaction and the same demand: "I want Daddy!"

I stopped doing it, lest I disturb him too much and became, in voice and manner, as I had always been for him, his familiar Daddy.

He seemed to go along with the intention of my change of voice, that it should be accepted as another person. I wonder, then, if he understands, perhaps without being conscious of it, what an actor does? After all, he perceived my change of voice, as being that of another person. It is an interesting speculation, at the least.

It is not the first time he has reacted to a change of manner or appearance in this way. When he was five months old, he responded in a very similar way to his mother when she put on a green face mask: "I want my mummy" he had said, crawling afterwards, in somewhat of a panic.

So, for him, a change of voice, or a change of appearance, denotes a change of personhood, in some way.

Funny enough, he himself, has been known to act - but more of that another time.

(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 youngest actor in the world

At what age can a child be an actor? Well, if you watch children carefully, you may find a surprising answer. At least, in the case of some children.

On Christmas Day, Tiarnan, 23 months, gave me a present. It wasn't the kind of present you wrap carefully in gaudy paper - it was the kind of present that arrives unexpectedly, a spontaneous gift made of nothing more than the child's ways, themselves.

Tiarnan was in the TV area of the house, the "lounge" where people sit, talk and watch films. He spotted a notebook on the coffee table, and picked it up. What he did then was startling. He began to walk around the room with a pacing, stride and manner that could only be described as "Daddy-like". He adopted an earnest, abstracted expression as if deep in thought and leafed through the notebook, as if searching for something. Meanwhile, his face was not idle: he puffed out his cheeks, to give them a fuller look, a, let's be frank, fatter, middle-aged look.

He seemed to be no-one other than his father. He had captured my "essence" with astonishing accuracy. There, before us, was a little Daddy toddler version.

Tiarnan had made an unconscious imitation and interpration of his Daddy, when he picked up that notebook. The notebook was mine and I think he was rendering an impression of how I am when I have an idea.

We asked him to do it again, but he wouldn't. He just turned away in shyness and self-consciousness. This is clearly the kind of thing he will do when he doesn't realize that he is being observed.

The incident left me sure of one thing, though. Tiarnan has it in him to be an actor, if he so wishes. He managed to capture the expressed personality of another person such that that person was recognizable in his chosen behaviour. To do that at just 23 months old is quite something. He did it instinctively, too - and I believe all the best actors are instinctive (as are all the best artists, of any kind).

(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.)

Childhood imagination and acting on the stage

Yesterday, I had the chance to see Fintan in a stage performance. It was not a theatrical show, as such, but more of a guided theatrical performance, with the help of their teacher.

Seeing Fintan transform from a child into a rocket, then a moon buggy, then an astronaut, and an airplane and back to a child again, told me much about the quality of his inner imaginative life.

Fintan was very committed to each action, each role, each image that he had to portray. He was very expressive, physically, in how he relayed the meaning of what he had been asked to do - and he was very, very enthusiastic. Above all, it was his imagination that was clear from his work. There was great physical detail in his imagining of the roles he was to portray - careful placing of body, arm, hand and face to give just the right meaning to what he intended. There was nothing half-hearted about what he did: it was clear that he both enjoyed it and was good at it.

Other kids of his age showed fair imagination, too (four year olds).

Yet, what was really telling, for me, was what happened next. We waited to see the performance of the five and six year olds. The contrast was clear. The older kids were more capable with words - more at ease with their use - but there was something dreadfully missing. Someone had stolen their imaginations. There was a marked reduction in imaginative power, creative commitment - and, compared to Fintan, detail of performance, in the older kids. I was surprised at this. I had expected to see a steady development of ability - a progression to higher things. But that is not what I could clearly see up on the stage. I saw more use of words and less use of body. I saw a lot of talk at the expense of expressiveness, imagination, creative daring, commitment, enthusiasm, insight and simple stage presence. Fintan showed all of these qualities at four - and his agemates showed more of them than the older kids. It was an odd and unsettling realization. Somehow, it seems, that children lose something as they get older: they lose their "childish" imaginations - but they don't gain anything worthwhile in return. Where the younger kids were fluid and fun, the older kids were stiff and dull. It was sad to see.

I have not had the chance to see this comparison in other cultures and races. But it may be general - and if so, it is a worry. Clearly, in this education system at least, the children are rapidly losing the very quality we would most want to see flourish: their creative imaginations. Not that alone, but they are losing it very early on. I saw a marked difference between four year olds and five/six year olds. A decline should not be noticeable over such a short time - but it was. Perhaps we should look for a different place and way to school Fintan - and Tiarnan - before they, too, are rigidified.

Then, again, it may not just be the school. It might be a natural process. Or it could be the whole culture. Whatever is to blame, it is most obvious that young children are losing their imaginations at a very young age.

You may say I didn't see enough children. Well, I did. There were two groups of about fifteen children each. The difference between the typical performance of the four year olds and the typical performance of the five/six year olds was marked. There was no doubt about it.

I really wonder at what schools do for children: do they open their minds up - or close them down?

This experience has really set me to wondering.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, 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.)