Does gender have anything to do with becoming a prodigy?
Singapore seems to be a good “breeding ground” for prodigies. We’ve heard about Ainan Cawley, the boy genius who passed his GCE O-level Chemistry at the age of 7. Ainan is now working towards a degree in a college in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Then just recently, The Straits Times reported about another boy genius who also heralds from Singapore.
Muhammad Haikal Abdullah Zain was just 12 years old when he aced his A-level equivalent papers for Physics, Math, Biology and Chemistry in November of last year. The exams that Haikal took has the same weight as the GCE A-level exams taken by junior college students. Now, he is making plans about studying medicine in National University Singapore. The NUS is looking forward to accepting Haikal’s application.
While it’s great to hear about such success stories about child prodigies from Singapore, one can’t help but notice that they mostly are boys. Do you think that gender has anything to do with this “prodigy thing”? Is there a secret formula that parents can follow to produce super-intelligent kids? Do you want your kid to be super-advanced academically or would you rather that he or she advances in school at a regular pace? Tell us what you think!