Tiarnan, the microbiologist.

On the 5th January, 2010, Tiarnan approached me with a magnifiying glass in his left hand, as I lay down in rest.

He put the lens up to his eye and peered down at the skin on my arm.

I thought this a very curious thing to do.

"What are you doing, Tiarnan?"

"I am looking for bacteria.", he announced, seriously, in his little high pitched voice.

I found myself smiling as I watched him peering intently at my magnified skin. No doubt he would not be able to see any bacteria, but no doubt, too, the view would be very interesting to a three year old.

His action was strangely revealing. It meant that he understood that bacteria were very small and could not be seen with the naked eye - but it also meant that he didn't understand quite how small they were - the magnifying lens being insufficient. Nevertheless, he had the right idea, in essence, and at least he understood that the lens would "make things bigger".

I let him peer away, as he moved the lens across any revealed skin, to see what he could find. There was another thing that he clearly understood: that bacteria would be found living on human skin. He is not wrong.

Perhaps we have another little scientist in the house. I don't know...but we shall see.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6, or Tiarnan, exactly 4, 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, Malaysia, College, University, HELP University College, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Computer Programming, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, prodigy, genie, bambino, kind.

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Education should be free.

Education should be free, everywhere, everywhen. There should be no fees at any stage of the educational process. To do otherwise, is to compromise the whole purpose, nature and intent of education itself.

Why do I say this? Well, to ask a fee for education - any fee at all - is to ensure that some potential students will be excluded not on the basis of ability but on the inability to pay. The higher the fee, the higher the barrier to those of limited means and the more who will be excluded.

Singapore, like America charges for its education. Thus, like America it is an unequal system where opportunities differ depending on the wealth of one's family. This should not be so.

Today, Ainan returned to Singapore Polytechnic to continue with Chemistry. Unprecedentedly, however, he laboured alone in the labs, the seat beside him, where his lab partner had sat, on all other occasions, remained empty.

Half-way through the class, I asked the lecturer if she knew where Ainan's lab partner was: was she sick...or had she dropped out of the course?

The answer was as feared. Ainan's experimental partner had returned home to Malaysia. The lecturer then voiced my own thought: "I don't know why...she had no problems with the lab work."

I agreed with her. Ainan's partner had been as competent as she had been warm, to Ainan. I very much doubted whether a lack of ability to cope was the reason.

"I think it is probably financial. Singapore is very expensive for a Malaysian - and the economy is not good now."

The lecturer agreed. "Such a pity...she was such a nice girl, too."

"Yes." She had been a very good partner for Ainan.

As I returned to the bench to sit beside Ainan, I reflected on what this meant. Ainan's lab partner had come all the way from Malaysia, to secure a "better education" for herself. She had parted from home and family to do so. Now, however, in all likelihood, she had been forced to give up her dream to return home to Malaysia, her qualification incomplete, her education cut short. The probable reason: money.

I don't think that a lack of money should be allowed to impede anyone's education. Education should be regarded as a basic right - and should be as free as the air we breathe (presently free anyway...). To place a charge upon it, is to ensure that many cannot benefit from it. This means that families whose circumstances are straitened may pass on their limited circumstances to their offspring, whose limited educations will perpetuate the same straitened circumstances. A greater injustice is harder to imagine. Each generation should be allowed to be set free from the limitations of the one before - and the only means to allow that is to ensure that all education is free to all.

Some will object that the girl in question is Malaysian and should therefore pay for a Singaporean education. However, were education free to outsiders Singapore would find little trouble in drawing the best from around the world to its doors - some of whom would go on to settle here. So, there is an advantage even in such a policy.

Whether or not education should be free to non-nationals is not a central issue. The point is that education, in Singapore and America, is not even free to nationals. It should be.

When I grew up, in the UK, Universities were free to all. Indeed, the State paid a fee to each student to cover their living costs at University. This meant that there was social justice: even the poorest could afford to get a University education. It meant that there was great social mobility, with those of poorest background able to rise to the top of the professional tree, if they made the necessary effort - for the doors were not barred by financial means. It strikes me as a better system than those nations that seek a fee everytime knowledge is imparted. Such countries are paying a very high price in the lost potential of their youth.

I wonder, now, whether Ainan's lab partner will ever become the Chemist she had dreamed of being. Will her family be able to afford her education? Will she have to settle for a lesser role in life, wishing away her days on might-have-beens? It is sad - for she would have been a warm and welcome presence in any lab - for not only was she able, but amiable too.

I wish her well on finding a way forward - and I wish well, too, all who are in her situation: stalled in their educations for want of the money to pay for them.

There is a better way: education should be free for all, everywhere, everywhen.

(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)

A young experimenter's decibel test

Today, I found Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, standing still upstairs, shouting, on his own. It was a strange kind of shout...a long drawn out shout that maintained the same volume and didn't seem to be saying anything in particular.

Understandably, this drew my attention. He stopped shouting, on seeing me, only to continue again almost at once. His face was very intent. He seemed to be concentrating on some inner sensation. Then I noticed something funny. He had yellow earplugs stuck in his ears.

Suddenly, it all made sense: Tiarnan was doing a little experiment on how well the earplugs blocked noise. He was testing them with a sound of a volume known to him: his own voice.

I took the earplugs from his ears - and he soon stopped shouting. Then I put them back in again for him, properly. His shouting resumed. Then he stopped. I spoke to him at normal volume and he smiled, knowing, for sure, then, that these earplugs worked. Satisfied with what he had learnt, he took out the earplugs.

He soon found other things to experiment with. It is interesting to watch him behave in this way, for it so calls to mind the early behaviour of his eldest brother, Ainan, who was always investigating things, for himself. Perhaps, Tiarnan, too, has a scientific bent, among his other gifts. We will see. For now, I will continue to enjoy his daily actions, surprising as they often are.

The next question, of course is: how did he get the earplugs in the first place, when they are kept on the top shelf above my desk?

Tiarnan kept mum on the issue. I am left to assume that some deft climbing was involved. Toddlers can be resourceful little creatures. I will have to find better hiding places for all the things I want to keep from him. (Not that earplugs are one of those things.) Yet, looking at the way he is, nothing short of a locked box will do the trick. Until he finds out how to open it, of course. Oh well...

(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.)