Arfa Karim Randhawa, child prodigy, dies.

Arfa Karim Randhawa, a Pakistani child prodigy known for being the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional, has died aged just 16 years old. Without warning, on the 22^nd December, she suffered a severe epileptic fit and fell into a coma. On December 29^th, her doctors said there was no possibility of survival. They proved right. She died yesterday, despite showing seeming signs of improvement in the previous days.

Remarkably, perhaps, prayers were said for her by the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and a number of other government officials commented on her demise, including the Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani. Her passing has occasioned a degree of national grieving, with public figures, such as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief, Altaf Hussain saying that Pakistan had lost a “precious talent”.

Arfa Karim Randhawa’s passing, before she could fulfil the life of promise that seems to have been hers, by birthright, is a harsh reminder of how fragile we all are and how suddenly life can come to an end, when we least expect it. Yet, there is also something of note about Arfa Karim’s passing: that anyone noticed or cared. I am sure that other 16 year olds in Pakistan were busy dying on Saturday, too...no doubt many did so – but the world simply neither cared nor noticed. It is Arfa Karim’s prodigiousness, her early show of talent, that brought her to the attention of Pakistan and the wider world. This explains an observation many have made: that child prodigies seem to die younger than other categories of exemplary people. I have often seen searches for this, arriving on my blog. Well, it is time, perhaps, to explain this seeming phenomenon. It is not what it appears. I don’t believe that child prodigies are fated to die young. It is just that when they do die young, people notice. I am sure that they die young no more frequently than any other type of person dies young. Being prodigious does not portend a short life. It portends the possibility of an unusually productive life, if the prodigy is given the right opportunities. Early death is not part of the seemingly Faustian pact. Arfa Karim Randhawa has died very young. We notice her death, because of her early achievement in computing. Had she lived an ordinary life, with ordinary achievements, no-one, but her family and friends, would have noticed her death. We would not then say that, “Non-prodigious children die young”. In just the same way, we cannot say: “Prodigious children die young”. They don’t. It is just that because of their early fame, they are noticed in a way that other early deaths are not. Of all categories of achievers, child prodigies come to notice earliest. Thus, the early deaths among them are noticed, which drags the average age of death down, for child prodigies. In other categories of achiever, early deaths mean they are not noticed or counted in for consideration: they are invisible, so they don’t bring the mean age at death, down.

Thus, although Arfa Karim Randhawa’s passing is very sad for those who knew her and, it seems, even for Pakistan, itself, it should not be seen as evidence that child prodigies die young. I am certain that they are, in truth, no more likely to die young, than is anyone else.

My condolences to Arfa Karim Randhawa’s family and friends. May she rest in peace.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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Computer software and the child

Do children need computer training? Today, I was struck by the absence of any such need, if my children are anything to go by.

Ainan, 7, sat at the keyboard, using a drawing program for architectural use. I was struck by the fluency of his movements, as he selected functions, drew, selected further functions and modified the result and so on. It seemed just so natural to him. There was no hesitation, no picking at wrong keys or functions - just a fluid expression of the thought he had and the result he wanted.

"How do you know how to use this program, Ainan?"

He kind of shrugged. "Just..." and trailed off, not communicating the mystery, perhaps mystified himself at the ease with which he was able to use the computer software.

I remember my own childhood with regards to computers: there weren't any - at least not until I was much older. "Space Invaders" - the first real computer game craze (apart from those simple tennis games) came along when I was eleven years old. So, seeing Ainan so at home with computers - as if they were a natural extension of his thinking, made me feel somewhat surprised. No child of my time had been as Ainan is with regards to computers.

Truly, the children of today are not as we were: their skills differ, their minds differ - and the world they will give rise to, as adults will differ too. Looking around, further afield than my own family, I can't help but wonder if their world will be a lesser world, not a greater one in some ways. For along with their gains in certain areas - such as the use of technology - there seem to be losses in other areas.

Perhaps I am just getting old to feel so!

But for Ainan and my other children, at least, computer technology looks to be little challenge at all to use.

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