Laurent Simons is studying electrical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) – a tough course even for students of an average graduate age.
Described by staff as “simply extraordinary,” Laurent is on course to finish his degree in December.
He then plans to embark on a PhD program in electrical engineering while also studying for a medicine degree, his father told CNN.
And two more:
The [10-year-old] maths-whizz loves her college education. She says: “It’s so interesting. It has the type of maths I love. It’s real maths – theories, complex numbers, all that type of stuff.”
The child prodigy began playing piano aged three, was performing at London’s prestigious Royal Festival Hall at six, and now barely into double-figures, has been named by celebrity pianist Lang Lang as a future star.
I always used to believe that the parents had a lot of influence on the child but since I’ve read a few articles and watched a few videos, I see that some kids are either born with it or just had a huge interest in their subjects to become that good. I wonder if all the kids in the world are able to do it if they had enough passions as they did and perhaps lived in a country where it was made possible for them.
Throughout human history every generation has thrown up a few ‘weird’ kids, Mozart started composing at age 4 or 5, Jesus managed to blow away the top theologians of his day while still a boy (to put that in a modern context it would be as if a 12 year old would discuss the works of the collected Church Fathers with Vatican theologians in Latin).
Not knowing enough about brain-science and stuff, I assume their brains are actually no different to any other child’s but they work better-maybe the 2 halves ‘talk’ to each other more efficiently, maybe its also a ‘sensory’ thing- ie the senses transmit more data. Maybe also their brains automatically, subconciously, store new information in the back of the brain in a structure we would recognise as a memory palace…like the Russian S.
Not to mention that learning is the easy part. These kids get their learning material on a silver platter, meaning that a lot of things are set up for them to succeed. Teachers help them, their parents help them, school programs help them, trainers/coaches help them. There is a documentary of this young teenage boy who wants to go to university on youtube and during the experience, he cries because of the pressure. His father was a math teacher and he got a lot of help from the people around him. Imagine if he had to do everything by himself, going to schools, schedule homework, go to exams, make learning schedule, find the material he needs to learn etc, he would fall apart and so would most of these kids. You almost never hear of a child prodigy who developed himself completely, without outside help. There are always very supportive parents in the picture, teachers etc.
The UK have a poor reputation in this regard. Schools are OK, but the universities - specifically O&C - have been criticised . I think they are now veering towards “positve discrimination”:
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With all due respect, there is wayyy more “genius” in China, where every parent believe having the child exceeding in something the earlier the better. But in the end the kids are forced to do it, but hey at least they are good at it, with a lack of creativity in the general mass.
Western culture on the other hand have less “geniuses” but then there is, they are more creative as they are doing it willingly.
This is just drawing from personal experience from both culture, a hypothesis yet to be proven.
I think the kids are pretty normal like other kids, they were only being taught all that things at an early age what other kids are not expected to.
I think a kid at a young age if given proper training can learn anything, whether by force or driven by extreme interest.
This is something I have experienced myself.
When I was in First grade/class my parents enrolled me in a tuition nearby.
The teacher used to teach us higher level maths (She explained so well) and as a result I was flipping factorisation, HCF and LCM, fraction calculation and some basic forms of algebra at that time when other kids of my grade were just learning the numbers with simple addition and subtraction.
Later I moved from that place and had to leave that tuition.
But the maths I learned helped me upto 6th to 7th grade.
So as you can tell, something similar is happening with these kids but they are doing it continuously.
You’re right that these children are obviously highly gifted academically and have high intrinsic motivation.
I used to be jealous of child prodigies as a kid because they made me feel stupid. It helps me to know that they don’t have significant advantages once they reach adulthood.
It actually still is. An IQ of 130+ is a factor but not everything. Somebody still has to buy these kids some books, somebody has to tell them what to learn, somebody has to go and talk to schools and schoolprograms, someone has to keep these kids on track if they seem to be failing or slowing down, someone has to help them when they get stuck somewhere, etc. When you are older you have to do all of these things for yourself which can be very difficult. All of these kids also don’t have to worry about money for everything. If I want to take the exams needed to study math on a university then I have to save at least 500 euro’s for the cost of everything and if I fail one test, I have to pay for that test again if I want to do it again. That is months I have to work for. I have to buy everything myself, find everything myself, schedule everything myself. I am autistic with a fear of failure, unless I get someone’s help with all of this, I won’t make it and I need to make it because if I don’t then I don’t know how to continue my life.
Honestly, I dont not even understand what IQ is. Adaptation to new things? Drawing from experience to solve new challenges? Memory based? Okay these three example are pretty close, though how is IQ even calculated based on little test results?? I cant be bother searching this up, never a fan of IQ scores, a discourager to potentials.
Relax apply the mnemonic technique - turn everything into usefulness that your brain can remember easily, even attitudes. Always look on the bright side when it is a stress. A change of mindset makes all the difference between a happy life and not enjoyable life. People dont change to a better view unconsciously until they are over 50 years old. As seen in the book “The Happiness Book” where it explores the times when we are the most happiest (there is 2 maximum curve - spoiler :p)and the time of the saddest moments in the general mass. Ironically, the statistic graph look much like a smile
The PRI contains several subsets. Block design tests an adult’s visual motor construction, visual spatial processing, and visual problem solving. Matrix reasoning measures inductive reasoning and one’s ability to solve problems in nonverbal, abstract ways. Visual puzzles reveal the subject’s visual spatial reasoning. Through picture completion, psychologists measure how quickly the subject can perceive visual details. And quantitative reasoning is tested using figure weights.
2. The Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI)
For the VCI, test takers must describe how various concepts and words are similar. They also define vocabulary words and answer general knowledge questions. These tests are used to evaluate semantic knowledge, verbal comprehension, abstract verbal reasoning, and verbal expression.
3. The Working Memory Index (WMI)
WMI essentially evaluates how well you can remember things. To measure WMI, participants will be asked to recall a list of numbers in the order that they were given (digit span) and a series of numbers and letters in order (letter-number sequencing). These tests evaluate attention, mental control, auditory processing, and working memory. The WMI also uses arithmetic to measure concentration, quantitative reasoning, and mental manipulation.
4. The Processing Speed Index (PSI)
PSI is essentially a measure of how fast your brain works. Through symbol search, cancellation, and coding, the test evaluates graphomoter speed, associative memory, and processing speed. Graphomoter skills combine perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills and enable a person to write.
I’m not a fan either. I think the concept of IQ is harmful. It could be partially fixed by removing the word “intelligence” from the tests and calling them something like “Cognitive Puzzle Tests” instead.
Those tests are just measuring a certain kind of cognitive processing power but not necessarily all the qualities that would be considered “intelligence”. Scoring well on an IQ test doesn’t necessarily mean that one has good ideas, critical thinking skills, or knowledge about the world. You might not be able to say that the person is “intelligent” or “not intelligent” but would need more-specific words to describe their cognitive abilities. I’d value the critical thinking skills part of “intelligence” over any kind of raw cognitive processing ability (IQ test), and critical thinking can be learned.
I don’t think it’s possible to reduce someone’s “intelligence” to a single number any more than it’s possible to do that for a “goodness” score. Colloquially, you could say something about a person’s general “goodness”, but I don’t think there is a way to define it by a single number, and it doesn’t really make sense to say something like, “I have a GQ [Goodness Quotient] of x.”
If it were called the “Cognitive Puzzle Test” then people would worry about it less. I think the concept of IQ affects some people badly because they take it too seriously.
How is using memory technique cheating? It is their fault for not taking that into account. And I really good at forgetting things, if you say you cant then I will make you addict to a game and have you play it for 20 hours a day, have food supply delivered at your desk.
This was my life in high school XD except it is a bit over 14 hours on average, just play it in classrooms, it was an autistic and diabolic last year of high school. It is worth noting that I was savage enough to continue this during exam weeks XD. My memory soon become so bad that I had to start training a true story if you believe me
a true story if you believe me 