The psychological effect of fame.

I noticed something very odd the other day. Ainan, 11, was going for an interview for something or other (no need to discuss it further, just yet). Standing to one side, holding a form that I had just filled in, was a young woman. A little shudder passed through her, as I gazed at her. How curious, I thought.

“What’s up?”, I asked, gently.

She clutched the form, concerning my son, more tightly, in her hand. “I am nervous.” She shuddered again, as she said this.

Now, I hadn’t expected that. I didn’t enquire about what, for I knew, at once, what must have been making her nervous. It was all rather strange. SHE was part of the team interviewing Ainan – yet it was not Ainan who was nervous, but HER. It was Ainan’s fame that was affecting her so, it seemed. To her, Ainan was a personage she had read about in newspapers – a somewhat legendary figure, therefore – and so, to meet him, in the flesh, was for her a matter of some challenge.

I led the conversation away from the thought that made her nervous and on to the task that Ainan had to complete, that day. As her thoughts turned to her work, she seemed to relax somewhat – for that domain was more in her control.

The moment was a startling one for me. It made me realize that, though Ainan is very young, he is, already, to many eyes a “famous person” – with all the psychological effects on people that come with that. I am led to wonder how much this effect on others will grow, over the years, as he continues to achieve unusual things and continues to become better known, thereby. To me, he will always just be my son – but to others, it is clear, he is already becoming something else – a figure of some weight, in the world, at least in terms of the effects he has on people’s minds. This little incident was just a hint of what fame can be. I learnt something from it: when a person becomes famous, it is not they who change, but the whole world in response to them. My son, Ainan, was still my son Ainan – he had not changed in any way since becoming well known – but, at times like this, it was clear that the world had changed in response to him. The world was no longer the same – it was gradually becoming something else, something new.

I hope that whatever the world becomes, in response to Ainan, that it continues to be welcoming and accepting, as it has been so far. I know this, however: that whatever happens, Ainan, being Ainan, will remain centred and calm, in the middle of it all. Ainan’s fame will change the world, as it appears to him – but Ainan will remain as he is: a quiet observer of it all.

I am left with one question, as I reflect on that twenty-something woman’s reaction to Ainan. How will girls behave towards him, when he becomes a teenager? If a twenty-something woman can be led to shudder at his presence, how on Earth will teenagers react when Ainan, himself, is one? Perhaps this particular young scientist will have something of the “pop star” about him. There are, after all, already signs of some perturbations in the social world. I wonder what Ainan will make of it all? We shall have to wait and see.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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An unexpected maturity; a surprising immaturity.

Today, I saw something remarkable - and a little sad.

I was with Tiarnan in the Science Centre, after having seen the Leonardo the Genius exhibition. Tiarnan, three, was in the mathematics display area of the Science Centre and he was investigating the Double Gravity Well exhibit. He found it most absorbing.

Tiarnan first wanted to stand on the exhibit, to be able to see into it. It consists of an ellipitical table like surface, which is curved, dipping towards two holes along the central axis. The idea is that you should roll a ball along the surface and watch how it is affected by the twin wells, representing two gravitational masses near each other. I gave Tiarnan a ball, while he stood on the table but, instead of rolling it while standing on the top, he jumped down to the floor to do it "properly".

He held the ball in his left hand and rolled it. He was delighted as it careened around the table top, drawn in a curve around the wells and between them. Eventually, it rolled into one of the holes. Immediately, he rushed off to get more balls and rolled them, one by one, in different paths, to see what would happen. He managed to do it three times, before he was interrupted.

Laughing, shouting and pushing each other, there came a group of teenage boys into the room. They saw, at once, what Tiarnan was doing and rushed over to the balls and, immediately, started to throw them at each other. Tiarnan, who had three more balls in his hands, stopped in his tracks, and watched these older, bigger boys behaving so strangely.

The teenagers were among the least well behaved people I can ever recall seeing in a museum. They threw the balls at each other, hard and fast in rapid succession. Then they rushed over to the table and huddled around it. One of them jumped up and tried to punch a ball into the hole, forcing it down a hole it was never meant to pass through. He punched it several times, until it was thoroughly jammed. Tiarnan was shocked at what they were doing.

The teenagers ran around chaotically - from Tiarnan's perspective they must have seemed like giant lumbering lunatics. There was no order to their behaviour, it was just an exuberant, messy, riotous chaos. Tiarnan stood stock still, his three balls unused in his hands. He seemed to be waiting for them to go away. I looked down at him and he looked up at me in a shared understanding. He looked back at the boys, wondering, perhaps, just why they were behaving as they were. Tiarnan, you must remember, is just three years old and had never, in his short life, seen boys behaving like this before.

After the boy had given up trying to force the ball through the hole, with his fist, they started a battle on the table top. This involved moving the balls around the table as fast as possible, and trying to hit them together. This they did for a couple of minutes, before their short attention spans were exhausted. Then they decided to throw all the balls in the room on the table, upending the containers filled with them to do so. One container was upended over another boy.

I called Tiarnan away, lest they run into him.

He understood the need to move, at once, and came with me.

Behind us, the boys rioted on, scattering balls all over the hall, shouting as much as they threw.

For me, the contrast between my three year old's attentive, concentrated attempt to understand the double gravity well and its properties, and the teenage boys' mindlessness, could not have been sharper. Tiarnan seemed infinitely more mature, more composed, more thoughtful and more intelligent, than the mindless oafs who had taken over the museum hall. It was more than a little disturbing to realize that these boys - who looked to be about 18 years old - were SIX times older than my son - and yet, had none of his self-control, none of his consideration for others and none of his maturity.

After the gravity well, the gang of boys went from exhibit to exhibit, interacting with each in a very aggressive way - as if trying to test them to destruction. The hall was filled with the sounds of banging and bashing, alongside their shouts. We retreated as far from them as we could.

I didn't say anything to Tiarnan about it, then, but I think I should. I think those boys provided a terrible example to my son of what constitutes a reasonable way to behave in a public space and with public property. I wouldn't expect a three year old to try to be so destructive as those boys were. Isn't it shocking to think that 18 year olds are capable of behaving in a way which would be considered out of place even for a THREE year old?

The conventional overseas view of Singaporean school going students is that they are all a studious, serious lot. I can tell you now, however, that that is certainly not true of all of them. I imagine that far from being studious, the bunch of boys I saw today would be more likely to tear the pages out of a book, than read them.

I am left with a thought: those boys were pre-NS. I wonder, just wonder, how they will cope with the discipline of NS, when their natural inclination is to riot? I think they are in for a surprise..either that, or the NS people are...

What was sad, for me, was seeing Tiarnan watching these rioting boys huddled around the gravity well table, in utter astonishment at what they were doing, then looking down at the balls in his hands, wondering, I thought, whether he was ever going to get the chance to continue his investigation. He didn't.

(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.

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This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The ever-changing face of China.

We live in strange times. Things are not as they were when I was in school.

Recently, I heard from a teacher friend of mine (from America, but working in Singapore) about a young Chinese student in his class (from the People's Republic of China). She is a tall girl of about 15 or 16. A couple of weeks ago, he saw this girl not paying attention in class. Instead, she was attending to a brochure. It was a very strange kind of brochure. In it there were numbered pictures of women's eyes, of all shapes and sizes. That was it...just pictures of eyes.

"What is this?" he enquired, of his distracted student.

She looked up at this giant gentle bear of a man (the only thing that distinguishes him from Santa Claus is the absence of a red jacket) and remarked, ever-so-casually, "I am choosing the eyes I want."

"You mean plastic surgery?", "Santa Claus" was aghast.

"Yes. I want new eyes." She paused momentarily, to find her choice. "I want these ones.", she said, her finger tapping the glossy paper.

My friend studied the selected eyes and was even more appalled. The chosen eyes were just like those of a Japanese anime schoolgirl: unfeasibly big and round. They belonged on a stylized cartoon, not a tall Chinese girl.

"You don't need to change your eyes: the ones you have are beautiful already! Don't do this!", he urged, to an unpersuadable, young girl.

"These ones, wouldn't suit you.", he said, with certainty.

She wasn't in the mood to listen and held onto her brochure for the rest of the class.

I haven't mentioned it, but she is quite a big girl. To have the eyes of a Japanese anime schoolgirl, set against her big form, would just look ridiculous. I think that was my friend's immediate understanding.

This girl thought that she could give herself the appeal of a Japanese anime schoolgirl, simply by paying a plastic surgeon to resculpt her face. No doubt, after she had had her eyes done, she would want her nose done. Then perhaps she would extend the work to other parts of her body. It could even become a lifelong obsession as it does with some women, forever changing their bodies as others might change clothes.

What struck my friend, and strikes me, is how young this girl is. She is just 15 or 16, but already wants to have surgery to "correct" her appearance. She is not fully grown. Her final form is not fixed. Yet, already she wants to go under the knife. She seems to think that it would benefit her in all sorts of ways.

I wonder if there is an age-limit for such operations? There should be. No teenage girl under 18 should be permitted an operation that permanently alters their appearance. They should, at least, have to wait until their final growth is done. (Except in cases of disfigurement from disease, genetic or otherwise - but that is a different matter. This girl is not disfigured - she is just a fairly typical, if tall, Chinese girl.)

When I was this girl's age, I don't think any of my contemporaries were altering themselves through plastic surgery. Now, it seems, whole nations are going under the knife. It is quite bizarre. There is much, I think, to be said for a natural appearance. To my eyes, that usually creates a good, balanced appearance. Nature tends not to put the eyes of a Japanese anime schoolgirl on a tall, big Chinese girl, on whom they would look ridiculous. However, if she gets her way, that is exactly what this young girl will get.

It is all a bit sad. It shows that young people today do not accept themselves as they are. Or, perhaps, other people do not accept them, as they are and so they feel under pressure to change. I feel that those who embark on such a journey of cosmetic surgical alteration may find that they were happiest at the beginning of the journey before anything was done. Once they have had an alteration made, they are really going to have to live with it. I am not sure that this Chinese girl will be any happier with the eyes of a very different kind of girl on her face. It is quite possible that she will look much worse for the change.

Is this an issue in your country? Are young women (and perhaps men) altering their appearance surgically? Is it common? What kinds of procedures are they having done? Do children have such operations? Is it a trend among teenage girls?

Any observations you might have would be interesting to hear. Thanks.

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.)

On being considerate on public transport.

Today, I journeyed on a bus. It seems a simple thing to do, but a lot of people conspired to make it a hellish trip.

I shall explain. Shortly after I boarded the bus, a group of school kids got on. They were secondary school children of about 16 years old. There were, I estimate, 25 to 30 of them. They crowded out the bus, standing in every nook and cranny and taking up every available seat.

Now, I have no issues with such groups of school children, usually, but, today, they did something en masse which I found quite insufferable: they spoke. Now, I am not about to speak out against Singlish again. The fact that many of them did use Singlish is not the matter I am concerned with. What bothered me was the volume with which they spoke. They competed with each other to speak above the volume of their fellow school children. Each child had to speak loud enough to drown out their competing neighbours, who, in turn, spoke louder so that they could be heard. What happened, almost immediately, was that they were all speaking as loudly as they were physically capable of doing.

The cacophony was deafening. I did the only thing I could: I put my fingers in my ears. Now, this achieved two things: it brought understanding, sympathetic smiles to the people opposite me, who had no trouble grasping what it was I was troubled by - and it lowered the volume just enough to be less than painful. What surprised me, however, was that, EVEN WITH MY FINGERS IN MY EARS, the bus load of jabbering school children was STILL too loud to be comfortable.

I kept my fingers in my ears throughout the journey and there was no respite from the deafening overlapping roar of voices around me, for, to my misfortune, the school party did not get off before me.

It struck me as strange that simply because a lot of 16 year olds were in one place together that they should think they have the right to become an unpleasant nuisance to everyone around them. No-one has taught them to consider their fellow human beings. A bus is a small space. It cannot take much noise before it becomes discomfiting. Adults don't talk much on buses. Adults sit in silence. I think teenagers should too. At least, they should not speak at a volume that they become unpleasant to everyone on the bus.

Schools play a part in this. They should teach their charges how to behave in public. Not becoming a cacophonous mass of teenagers is one thing that they should be taught to do. If they want to speak - then why not all choose to speak quietly to each other. Then, there would be no need to raise voices until all are shouting at maximum volume.

All the children were dressed from head to toe in light grey, should anyone be able to identify the school in question and communicate my observations to someone in a position to influence them.

I wasn't the only person who found them unpleasant. Many of the faces, nearby, showed as much discomfort as no doubt mine did. The only difference is, I put my fingers in my ears. Perhaps the others didn't want to draw attention to themselves.

I did note something about the teenagers' conversation: none of them within earshot (most of the bus) were saying anything that was worth saying in the first place. Their conversations may as well not have happened for all the purpose and content they imparted. I only wish they had realized that and didn't bother to speak in the first place.

I had a funny thought as I sat there. I wondered what they would think if I spoke up and told them to be quiet. No doubt they would think me most odd, for trying to shout above them, to get them to be quiet. Yet, strangely, none of them seemed to consider that they were all shouting in the first place - so why should my mooted request for them to be quiet be seen to be unusual? In the end, I said nothing, but just kept my fingers firmly in my ears.

There is no doubt that one's own car seems an attractive idea, at times like this. There is no way there is ever going to be thirty teenagers shouting at once in my car, that's for sure.

(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.)