Raffles Institution welcome Ainan

The Raffles Institution welcomed Ainan, seven, yesterday to discuss how they might be able to help his educational development.

For those overseas, the Raffles Institution and its sister, Raffles Junior College, form one of Singapore's most revered educational institutions. It is, of course, named after Stamford Raffles, who founded Singapore on the 6th February 1819. It is a boys only school, that caters exclusively for teenagers and selects only the top 3 % of students. What does this mean? Well, for those who know that moderate giftedness corresponds to a prevalence of 1 in 44, it is clear that almost everyone at Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College, will prove to be gifted - moderately, at least, with many of them much more, of course.

We met Theresa Lai and Dr. Jeffrey Lee Pheng Guan (Head of the Science Department).

I will describe their attitude rather than the contents of their suggestions, lest I jeopardize the initiatives that they would like to put in place. They proved to be excited, open, interested in helping Ainan, insightful as to his needs, willing to be flexible in order to help - and most of all, deeply convinced of the need to react to the situation in a customized manner. They understood that Ainan's prodigious nature required a special response - they understood that doing nothing would prove harmful. I was very pleased at their attitudes. Not with them, was the tendency to throw up barriers, present. Not a once did they say: "That can't be done." or "We don't have the resources." (for which would read: "We don't want to deploy the resources."). Not once did they harp on difficulties of any kind. They instead focussed on Ainan's needs and how they could meet them. This was all very refreshing and provided a marked contrast to the attitudes of some others we have encountered.

The meeting was brief, focussed, to the point - and action oriented.

They resolved, by the end, to help in whatever way they could - and one way was to try to find a mentor, for Ainan - a scientist, somewhere in Singapore, who would help Ainan grow, with the dedication he deserves.

Now, if they succeed in finding such a person, it would be time for celebration indeed. Thank you Raffles for an inspiring meeting.

The introduction was made by the Gifted Education Programme, so thanks to them, too.