Child Prodigy Schools: an educational trend.

In various parts of Asia, Child Prodigy Schools are being established. They answer to a social need - even, one might say, a social demand, in Asian culture, that children "perform". What this means is that, in many parts of Asia, so competitive is the culture, that many parents want for nothing less than that their children be prodigious.

Now, a child prodigy is, in my opinion, based on close observation, an innately gifted child. The prodigious gift is something that emerges from within the genetic inheritance of the child. It is very clearly present, from birth. It is not and never shall be, an environmentally bestowed attribute. So where does that leave "Child Prodigy Schools"? Nowhere, absolutely nowhere.

Yet, that doesn't stop Child Prodigy Schools from being opened around Asia. A recent one is a case in point: The Henan Child Prodigy School in China.

This school makes, as these schools tend to do, an outrageous claim. The owner of the school states that he can bestow a "photographic memory" on the children who attend his school. There are, at present, 150 of these unfortunate souls. I will tell you why they are "unfortunate" soon enough.

After receiving his training program, Zhang Xuexin, the Principal, claims that the children are able to memorize textbooks and traditional poems, and recite them - forwards and backwards. He then goes on to state that they are, therefore, "child prodigies". Well, even accepting his proposition that they end up with "photographic memories" (which I don't), being able to memorize a text and recite it backwards does not imply that one is a prodigy. It implies that either one has a good memory - or that one has spent an awfully long time learning the text. A good memory, on its own, does not confer prodigious status either. A child prodigy must be able to think (if they are in a cerebral domain - as, it is supposed, these are meant to be). Memory is a tool of thinking - but it is not, in itself, evidence of active thinking. A good memory may exist where a good mind does not.

I have seen a video of these children demonstrating their "talent" and it is truly chilling. They sit in rows in a classroom with their eyes closed (although some appear possibly to be slightly open - but more of that later). Before them lays an open textbook which they are unable to see (except perhaps those whose eyes appear to be slightly open). They are reciting what I am led to assume is the contents of the textbook, in a peculiarly inhuman, robotic way. They speak in unison, chanting the words from the book. Their faces have no expression. There is no emotion in them, as they chant. Most look terribly tired (one child is later seen to struggle to keep his eyes open and rubs them).

In the whole video the only person who shows some enthusiasm for life is Zhang Xuexin (as I assume the interviewee to be) who bubbles over with the simple joy of being interviewed on TV (at least, that is how it comes across). No-one else smiles or shows positive emotion in the whole video.

Nowhere do I see evidence of thinking, from the children. Nowhere do I see evidence of personality. Nowhere do I see evidence of happiness. Nowhere, indeed, do I see evidence of prodigiousness. I do, however, see a lot of children listlessly reciting words without any enthusiasm for doing so. I see humans made into robots.

Yep, that is a "Child Prodigy School" alright.

There is something more you should know - something which is more perturbing than the rest of the story put together. A kid playing table tennis missed the ball an awful lot. Huh? You say, what does that mean? Well, it could mean a lot. You see Zhang Xuexin has a lot of unorthodox ideas - I could have used the word "crazy" - but I didn't. One of these ideas is that the children would benefit from "absorbing energy from the Sun". To do this, he insists that they stare directly into the sun, periodically to absorb this "energy". There could be a very good reason why these children seem not to open their eyes much - and why they can't seem to hit a table tennis ball - I think it certain that most of them have damaged eyesight.

That boy rubbing his eyes may not just be tired - he may be wondering why there is a giant black spot in the centre of his vision. These children will go blind, for sure, if they follow Zhang Xuexin's regime, for any length of time - and if they follow it at all, they will have damaged eyesight.

Perhaps Zhang Xuexin's master plan is to open a School for the Prodigious Blind, next. I just can't wait to see what their training program is like.

(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, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

When "education" becomes abusive.

Very few people understand gifted children. Most teachers don't. Most school authorities don't. Most adults don't. Why is this? Simple: because they weren't gifted themselves. Only the gifted can understand, truly, what it means to be gifted.

This notion of how understanding is circumscribed by likeness of the self to other, also applies to the gradations of giftedness. It takes a moderately gifted person, to understand a moderately gifted other - a highly gifted person to understand a highly gifted other - and so on, all the way through exceptional gift and profound giftedness. Only someone truly of a particular level can truly understand the other, of the same kind.

Why do I say this? Well, I think that the perspective, and experiences of a gifted child have to be felt personally to be truly understood. The difference between living it and reading it is rather like the difference between reading The Lord of the Rings - and actually being Frodo Baggins in Middle Earth with a rather historic ring on your finger. It is impossible for us to truly understand what it is like to be Frodo Baggins - we can only see him as we imagine him to be, from the outside.

Thus is it with the gifted and the education they receive in schools. Those who educate them only know them from the outside - through reading and what they are told in their training. They do not truly know what it is like to be them.

So, it should be no surprise that education is often inappropriate for gifted children of all ilks. The more gifted the child, the more inappropriate it becomes. Yet, it is unlikely in the extreme that the education system will ever acknowledge the inappropriateness. Most education systems live under the delusion that they know best. I have actually heard a representative of our particular education system here, in Singapore, say, in essence, that she knew better than the parents how the child should be educated. Now, there is a delusion for you.

Education often proceeds by diktat: this is the way it is and all must accept it. It is rare for an education system to actually respond to the child's individual needs. Sometimes education systems talk about responding to a child's needs - while actually not doing so. Again, it is part of the incomprehension that comes with not being gifted - yet administering to the gifted.

Ainan is presently not receiving what he needs, educationally, from the system in Singapore. I very much doubt that he ever will be. This arises in the manner described above: those who can never understand, because they have never been like Ainan, make decisions about his needs, which they think should suffice. In our case, they refuse to listen to feedback that their intervention is insufficient: they think they know better.

What is the result? Lack of challenge, boredom, restlessness in the classroom, disenchantment with school, a loss of interest in learning - and general disengagement will all result, to varying degrees, if the child's true needs are not being met. In this situation, the result can only be described as abusive. It is abusive to keep a child in an unstimulating environment. It is abusive to deny a child true opportunities for growth. It is abusive to hold back a child's development all in the name of "we know better". Why do they "know better"? Because they are not bright enough to realize that they don't.

All over the world, hundreds of thousands of gifted children are being abused in this way, by the standardized classroom situation - by the undemanding education designed for those of average ability. As a result, most of the gifted children of the world end up as under-achievers - end-up as much less than they could be. Who is to blame for this? The educational system itself, for not recognizing that a gifted child has very different needs from an average child - and the more gifted they are, the more their needs will differ.

So, when is education abusive? Whenever a gifted child is involved and the individual child's particular academic needs are not met. In every case in which this occurs, the education received is a form of suffering. The education system is abusing the child. That is what education systems do to the best minds in their care. They abuse them with boredom, lack of challenge, frustration of their desires, and denial of opportunity.

In case you are the sort who doesn't care about an issue unless it affects you personally, consider this: if the growth of many gifted children is being stifled, in this way, all over the world, what do you think it does to the future intellectual health of human society? What does it do to the pace of technological and scientific change, to medical advances and cultural complexity and diversity? All these areas are hindered when the growth of those who become their human constituents are themselves hindered in their development. This issue of the abuse of our gifted children by inappropriate eduation affects us all: it is a universal problem that impacts the lives of all who presently live and are yet to live.

(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, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)