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Are these kids 'gifted' or 'cursed'
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| Georgia - Mensa's youngster member |
BEING the cleverest kid in the classroom certainly isn't as easy as it looks, as last Thursday's Channel 4 documentary, Child Genius, made very clear.
In fact, it looked like more of a nightmare.
The programme was the second in a long-term study to chart the progress of gifted youngsters in Britain. It was at once fascinating and slightly disturbing. In many cases, the term "gifted" could have been replaced with the word "cursed." Certainly anyone hoping for an everyday childhood need not apply.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Georgia - Mensa's youngest member, with an IQ of 152 - was a case in point. Mum Lucy, who claimed she could see a white light shining from her daughter in photographs, said the reason she got her daughter IQ tested was to see if she had special needs.
When Lucy found out just how special Georgia's needs were, the press soon got wind, leaving Georgia fielding invites to US chat shows. A recheck of her IQ, to make sure the high mark wasn't a fluke, actually revealed her to be off the scale. As it turns out, she dozed off half way through the first test.
The former youngest Mensa mind was five-year-old Mikhail who had already made the rounds on the Oprah Winfrey show. In the last documentary, his IQ test revealed that, while he was basically a human calculator, his verbal skills weren't quite so hot. Cue years of intensive spelling training, building up to a charity spellathon to prove he was at the top of his game in all areas.
More than anything, it makes you wonder where these kids will be in ten years' time. Some, no doubt, will be well on their way to ruling the world, but surely this high pressure environment will take a hefty toll on others.
Peter Williams was a budding chess champion who actually did seem to be planning world domination by becoming a grand master at the age of 11.
He was a bit on the cocky side, but you could see why. His prime goal in life seemed to be to clean up at a European chess contest in Croatia, at the cost of all else.
At one point the poor mite, who rarely saw kids his own age, explained that he wouldn't mind some friends, but didn't see them as essential parts of life.
But the defeat of his chess rivals wasn't to be, as Peter came in at 67 out of 91 competitors. On the one hand you thought he probably needed to be taken down a peg or two, but on the other, you felt sorry for him as, quietly devastated, he told his father the news. Fearing his son's chance to be a chess prodigy was slipping through his fingers, Peter's dad immediately decided to up his training time, while the would-be champion joked he'd be playing right up to his own funeral.
But by the time we checked in on him again, the family had reversed the decision. Peter even seemed to have made a few new pals, and was last seen playing with other children at scouts.
9:29am Tuesday 22nd April 2008
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