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The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy

This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family. I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become. Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley, 2006 +

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Wall-e, Hollywood and environmentalism.

I have just enjoyed Wall-e from Disney Pixar, with my family. What I particularly enjoyed was the underlying message of the film. You see, more than anything else, Wall-e is a comment on the state of the world today.

Children get their education best when they least notice it. A cinema is a pretty good place to educate children on important issues. Thus, I would like to congratulate Hollywood and Disney Pixar in particular, for Wall-e.

I am not about to spoil the film, but I can say this: it preaches a very clear message about the perils of not caring for the environment, of allowing Man to become successively more lazy and dependent on machines and on the probable future of Earth and Man if we continue to do and be as we are. These are important issues for children to confront and understand so that, when they become adults, they might live in a way which does not contribute to these problems.

I would urge every parent to bring their children to see Wall-e, even very young children will be able to understand the film - and let them imbibe the message it has, for the state of our world today. Clearly, the film is an extensive comment on the nature of, in particular, modern America and where not only is it ahead, but where it presently already is. In a way, the film is quite chilling in what it predicts, but is so without making the audience too uncomfortable. In fact, I found myself laughing at things I shouldn't really have been laughing at, while being made aware of how awful such a situation actually would be.

So, if you want your children to grow up environmentally aware, active and protective, I think Wall-e is a good place to begin their education in what will happen if nothing is done.

See it.

Watching the film gave me hope that Hollywood - often seen as an evil force in the world - could actually help the future development of the world by producing responsible films that educate the audience on important matters such as environmentalism and the likely future of Man if we don't change our ways. They serve as powerful warnings and are more likely to be heeded since they won't be perceived as lectures.

Well done, Disney Pixar...I hope to see more of such films, for the future adults of tomorrow to learn from.

(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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posted by Valentine Cawley @ 11:16 PM  4 comments

Thursday, August 28, 2008

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.)

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posted by Valentine Cawley @ 8:26 PM  7 comments

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Is "Made in China" any good?

We have all seen "Made in China" stamped on goods of all kinds. Such goods are often cheap - but are they any good?

Now, most of us have heard of the food adulteration scandals, of people being poisoned, some even dying in various incidents regarding Chinese products, around the world. That, however, is not the subject of my post. Something smaller but also of significance has drawn my attention.

Today, I was shopping when I noted a food item from China marked: "Organic". It was also cheaper than the non-organic alternative on offer. Naturally, therefore, I thought it a bargain and got two packets.

As I was about to pay, I hefted the Chinese food items and noted something odd. They seemed lighter than I expected from the stated 125 grams a pack. Curious, I took the packages to the weighing centre in the supermarket and duly weighed them. The first was not 125 grams, but just 106 grams. The second was 112 grams. Both were underweight.

Now, that surprised me, for it meant something very clear: the goods, far from being cheaper than the alternative, were actually more expensive - because the weight was much less than the label stated. Thus, rather than being the bargain they seemed, they were actually a con.

So, the next time you are shopping and you have the odd sensation that your purchases are lighter than they should be, perhaps you should weigh them. You might be surprised at what you find, particularly if the goods are from China.

It seems that the Chinese food suppliers are creating a competitive advantage for themselves by advertising a lower price than the competitors, putting the same weight (as their competitors' products) on the labels, but then putting less of the product in the container than they should. Ultimately, they are creating a situation in which the customer voluntarily pays more per gram of product than they otherwise would, while convincing them that they are buying a bargain. What a con.

(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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posted by Valentine Cawley @ 10:40 PM  0 comments

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Of cheers and jeers in the classroom.

I have been in Singapore for many years. I have seen things here, that I have not seen elsewhere. Many of these things are to do with a difference of culture and mentality, a distinctness of outlook and beliefs. One of these differences is in how school children treat each other.

In two schools, now, I have seen an unusual reaction that I never once saw in the quite a few schools I attended, when I was growing up in England. In one classroom, of foreign Asian students, studying in Singapore, there was a talented student. He was the brightest boy, in one way, in the class (though not the most creative). As a teacher should, I would ask several people to speak in front of the class, either to read or think before the others. Whenever I asked anyone else, there was generally silence. Yet, when I asked this particular boy to speak, they would CHEER him. This was most unexpected when they first did it. The reason they CHEERED is that they delighted in his skill. They cherished his intelligence. They admired his gift. Whenever it came his turn to do anything academic, they would herald his words, with a universal cheering in the classroom.

Now, this boy's work was indeed consistently very good. He was the most skilful, in a conventional sense, of all of the students. Noting their reaction to him, I decided to ask another student to read - one who was less obvious, less a known factor, to the other students. It was the Indonesian boy of whom I have written before - the one I have termed the best student writer in Singapore. Now, his writing was brilliant for an unconventional reason: it was imaginative in writing, content, choice of words and originality of expressions - but it was not perfect in grammar and spelling (unlike the class hero's work).

Knowing that he would not, perhaps, be the best of readers of his own work, I took the Indonesian's writing from him and stood still in front of the class and began to read. No-one said anything before I began. There was no heralding of the work to come. I read, with care, depth and feeling. All the room was silent. As I said the last word and looked out over the classroom, a murmur of appreciation went around the room. They had realized something: this boy, this very quiet boy from Indonesia, whom they had overlooked, had something very special. They did not react with jealousy to this discovery - but with a kind of awed admiration. I had just created another class hero. He didn't receive cheers in the way the other one did - but he did, thereafter, receive a murmur of appreciation, a strange, almost inaudible communication that passed swiftly around the classroom each time I chose him. It seemed as if his quieter personality (for he never spoke in class) warranted a quieter response.

So, that class of Asian foreign students admired people of gift, and welcomed them with cheers and other cries of appreciation. I have seen the same thing in another class, in Singapore - this time of Singaporeans.

It was a Secondary One class and what struck me about it was that every time a WEAKER student had difficulty with a task, the class would urge them on. Once the task had been completed, the class would cheer the student for their efforts. This is a complementary attitude, therefore, to the response I observed in the other class - but it has, essentially, the same meaning. In both classes, the striving for greatness is appreciated and rewarded by the rest of the class. I recall one student in particular. She was the sole foreigner in the class, from China. She was older and taller than the others and it was difficult to judge her brightness or otherwise, since her English was a little too weak for a decision to be made. When it came her turn to speak before the class, the whole class cheered her on. She was quite a shy girl and I could see she was very touched by the support of the class - she didn't know whether to smile or shed a grateful tear. It was sweet to watch. Then she began to speak, unsteadily, stumbling over words and structures. Throughout, the class was silent, but intent, their eyes and their encouraging nods urging her on. I could see that she felt their support, that their united attitude of care was allowing her to do this most difficult of all tasks: public speaking. At last, she was done - and the classroom was filled with "whoops" and cheers. The tall, awkward Chinese girl walked fluidly, bouyantly back to her seat, with a smile that could not have been broader - a smile of relief to have achieved her aim and gratitude for their support.

Now, I have spent this much time on description of these two classrooms: one of Singaporeans and one of foreigners, for a good reason. I would like to constrast that with what I experienced in many different schools in England, when I was growing up. At the time, there was a common response to anyone who excelled: the jeer. The scenes I have written of above could not have happened in any school I observed in England (and I observed many, having moved around quite a bit). There, excellence of the academic kind always attracted a venomous reaction. There was no surer way to unpopularity, in all schools that I experienced, than to be brighter than the rest. If you were smart, you were an exile. That is the way it was and no doubt, given the dumbing down of the UK, since then, that is the way it remains. There is an anti-intellectualism that undermines the health of the nation, there. The best people have to learn to mask their greatness and blend in, in some way. However, should they blend too vigorously or too long, there is the risk that they will lose the essential difference that made them great in the first place. I saw many people excel, in my schools, in England. Yet, never once were such students cheered, and not a few times they would be jeered. The jeers would not come in the classroom, before the teacher, but in the playground, later, where jealousies and spite would be taken out on the gifted student who had dared to show them up, simply by existing.

Never once did I see a class in which the other students supported the most gifted members of the class. Never once did I see approval of achievement or excellence, as a general response. The teachers, too, were often poor at rewarding greatness. They would usually not comment on the relative achievements of students - and so it was that the achieving student would receive no positive feedback from the students and none from the staff, either. They would be left to generate their own positive feelings, to understand their own position in the world.

I do not know how common this phenomenon of cheering on the greater and the weaker is, in Singapore. I only know this: I have only ever seen this in a Singaporean classroom. In UK classrooms it was the jeer, not the cheer that came readily to every throat. I wonder what this means for the long term future of the UK and of Asia. I note that the classroom that cheered on its best student (academically) was a pan-Asian classroom, with children from all over Asia. The gifted boy in question was Malaysian. So, if this cheering of the great is a pan-Asian phenomenon it could very well be, that in decades to come, Asia could emerge as a greater power than one might suppose. For nothing more is likely to help the flowering of the gifted, than that they should find support from the wider community. I have witnessed that force at work in Asia - I have never seen it at work in the UK.

The UK would do better, I feel, if its students could learn to cheer the greater on (and urge the weaker to achieve). Singapore would benefit if what I have seen in two classrooms could become a property of all.

How much more likely is a gifted child to succeed if they hear cheers in their ears, rather than jeers? Correspondingly, how much more likely is the child who hears jeers, in their ears, to fail?

The answer to this question will be found in the corresponding fates of Asia and the UK in the decades to come.

(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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posted by Valentine Cawley @ 11:23 AM  4 comments

Monday, August 25, 2008

The effect of chocolate on the young.

My boys, like most boys, are partial to chocolate (and sweets) of various kinds. So partial are they, that they have devised various ruses to overcome my ration-minded ways.

Yesterday, Tiarnan, two, sidled up to me: "Can I have chocolate, Daddy?"

I looked down at him, as he did his best to be appealing, open-eyed and big of smile.

I could have said, no, but I relented.

As I turned to walk towards the kitchen, I noted that Fintan, five, had moved in behind Tiarnan. Was this, then, a ploy of the two boys - to send the cutest first, to ask permission...and then for the other to join in? We would see.

I opened the freezer, in which the Secret Chocolate Supply is kept. Two expectant faces looked up at me as I reached in. I stopped, then, in mid-reach.

"There is no chocolate for good boys...", I began.

Disappointment flared in four eyes. Two faces threatened to be crestfallen.

"Only for bad boys."

Disappointment turned to hope in each eye.

"Are you bad boys?" I enquired, knowing them to be good ones.

They nodded, at once, in unison, with the utmost passion and declared, in choral tones: "YES!"

I had to laugh. They were like a little comedy duo, who moved as if all had been planned to act as one - but I am sure it was not a matter of forethought, just a matter of rapport.

I gave them each a chunk of chocolate. Two happier "bad" boys, you have never seen.

(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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posted by Valentine Cawley @ 11:40 PM  0 comments

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Over 100,000 hits since this blog started.

Today, is a day of celebration on this blog. Today, my total number of reader hits since the blog started 23 months ago, is 100,052.

Now, 100,052 is quite a healthy number, I think, given that there are far too many blogs in the world (roughly speaking there is about one blog for every ten internet connections, according to the last figures I read. In other words, everyone has tens of millions of blogs to choose from. Getting readers in those circumstances is a definite victory.)

Most people who arrive on this blog are interested in giftedness, or education, in some way. So, that figure of 100,000 total readers since the day the blog began, is an indication of the level of interest in these subjects, worldwide. That interest is significant, if not overwhelming. There are many things that people could be interested in, many things they could read. Were I to write a blog on Tom Cruise, I am sure that the readership would be a hundred fold higher. However, I don't think such a blog would add anything worthwhile to the world. There are enough media covering Tom Cruise to make a blog about him unnecessary.

Giftedness, however, is a subject that is both of importance and under-covered, in some ways. There is much that can be said in this arena - and much that needs to be said. It is a subject of dear interest to those parents who have a gifted child to raise and, as such, is worth devoting some energy too.

I would like to thank all my readers for deciding to read some of what I have written. Please pass the word around about this blog so that others, too, might enjoy what I have written, or find value in it, in some way.

To put those figures into perspective, my readership per year has doubled so far in the second year compared to the first. 100,000 hits is a target that I had set myself at the end of the first year, for the second year - and it is one that I have achieved before the year is up. We will see what the actual total for the year comes to on September 19th, 2008 which will be my blog's second birthday.

Happy reading all.

(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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posted by Valentine Cawley @ 6:09 PM  3 comments

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