I Am Prodigy!

November 5, 2007 1:44 PM

I'm looking for gifted children or 'child prodigies' in Asia that I could possibly get in touch with and interview but it's proving to be a little tough locating these whiz kids. Anybody got any leads?
posted by mordecai to society & culture (10 comments total)

How old? Where in Asia? Not to snark, but it's a big place, and giving us more details about your project/idea might help us out.
posted by mdonley at 1:58 PM on November 5, 2007

oh yes, so sorry about that. I'm looking for 13 kids, preferably each one from a different country. I'm not looking at the whole of Asia - just SEA, India and China.

this is for a TV show that we're pitching to a production house. we don't just want to profile prodigies in the classical sense, meaning a girl who can compose symphonies at the age 3 or a boy who can recite pi to the 20,000th decimal point. we also want something...fun. a kid who holds the guinness world record for building the largest castle with matchsticks, for example. (that was just from the top of my head...has any kid done that?) kids who've made a name for themselves doing odd or strange things would be rather interesting.

so that's the basic overview of what the project's about. the kids need to be about 10 to 17 years old, give or take a few years.

hope that helps. thanks!
posted by mordecai at 3:05 PM on November 5, 2007

Why do they have to be Asians?
posted by pravit at 4:34 PM on November 5, 2007

you're talking about billions of people here.

best bet is going to be calling the major research universities in each country.

this is not going to be a list that is going to materialize out of thin air.
posted by Mr_Crazyhorse at 5:43 PM on November 5, 2007

The world's youngest Microsoft Certified Professional lives in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Her name is Arfa Karim Randhawa, and she's met Bill Gates, among other things. She's gotten a bunch of press, but I think she's awesome, and probably isn't what most of the world expects from 9-year-old Pakistani girls.
posted by bijou at 9:05 PM on November 5, 2007

mm. i was from singapore's gifted education programme. they put 9 year olds through an iq test and an english test and picked out the top...0.01% (? can't remember... i think the first GEP batch had... 100 kids in it, total, for that year?), i think, and put them through a 7 year gifted education programme. it was a lot of fun, and very intense, and the kids there were/are very weird and smart. and they end up doing pretty smart/weird things, too. i think one of my friends graduated from university in 2 years.. and throughout the years lots of my peers seemed to win this or that prize etc. i'm sure MOE (the ministry of education) keeps pretty good track of its gifted kids... they send little questionnaires to us about once a year, i think, and we're supposed to fill them out and send them back so they can, uh, track us (but i've never filled out mine...).

so you could try contacting MOE, or the head of the GEP branch or something... or the Gifted departments of those designated GEP schools. if there's any other way you think i could help, or if you want to hear more about what the GEP / GEP kids were like in my experience, my email's in the profile...

(i think there was also some game show on tv (in singapore) that was called "singapore's brainiest kid" or something... maybe you could try to look for the kid that won or something.)
posted by aielen at 9:13 PM on November 5, 2007

oh my, i just looked at your profile and realised you're from singapore anyway. heheh oh well!
posted by aielen at 9:15 PM on November 5, 2007

Look for videos on YouTube and other video services that are perhaps more popular in Asia.

Here is "3-year old prodigy" Mo Kin playing the xylophone (I first saw this video a few years ago, so I don't know if she has become a more advanced prodigy or settled down to average since then):

http://www.robpongi.com/pages/comboMOKINHI.html
posted by mikepop at 6:15 AM on November 6, 2007

Try contacting the MENSA clubs in each area and see if they have any leads.

Keep an eye out for the Education papers, or heck the National papers of each area. I know Malaysia likes to hype up such prodigies like whoa.
posted by divabat at 12:48 AM on November 7, 2007

Hi Mordecai,

My name is "Rob Pongi" and I am an American citizen who has lived in Tokyo for over 10 years and I speak and read Japanese fluently. And, previously, I edited and translated the above-mentioned Japanese TV video of "Mo Kin" (her real name is 'Ri Higgin') while working with a cable TV company here as an actor/editor/writer years ago and I have some information that may help you somewhat.

'Mo Kin'/Ri Higgin is part of a very elite and highly regarded group of very talented North Korean children known as "The Genius Kids" by the South Korean and Japanese media. And all these kids are, in fact, hand-picked at a very young age by Kim Jong Il himself. Then once chosen, then they are taken out of their families' homes, then they become members of the North Korean military (yes, its true) and then they are moved into Mr. Kim's massive Media/PR machine where they are rigorously trained and forced to practice and perform on a near-daily basis. And to many westerners, I know that this all may seem to be "cruel" and very immoral to use little children for promoting rhetoric and propaganda, but actually, these kids (and they're families) are always competing to be chosen as a member of "The Genius Kids". And, in North Korea, to actually be chosen to become a member of this truly amazing and very talented group of entertainers is widely known to be a very esteemed national honor that only a very few can achieve. They are treated like royalty and receive a very high-level education as well as extensive entertainment training and performance opportunities.

And from what I have been told by some veteran Korean and Japanese reporters here in Tokyo, it is estimated that there are approximately 800-1,500 active "Genius Kids" as well as roughly 500 or so "Genius Teenagers" who usually go on to become North Korean TV and film actors. You can see a truly stunning instrumental performance by "The Genius Teenagers" here:

http://www.robpongi.com/pages/comboGTEENS.html

And, actually, they are all taught how to play and sing through the Japanese 'Suzuki' method, which, is a very positive and encouraging method of listening to and copying their teachers demonstrations. And this method doesn't include music theory and/or reading or composition until later on. And, for sure, kids at such a young age, actually have a very high acquisition ability and, if taught in a progressive and encouraging way, they can learn very complex music and other abilities much faster than kids who are older and adults for that matter.

Well, I don't want it to seem like I am spamming my site, but, in order to explain more about this amazing group of entertainers, I have to use a couple more examples in order to show you more and (hopefully) help you understand all of this. Anyway, there is another video of "The Genius Kids" that shows them using their very quick and incredible skills at memorizing long and difficult color sequences here:

http://www.robpongi.com/pages/comboGKIDS05.html

And, again, I know that some of these videos may seem "shocking" or "wrong" to Americans and other Westerners, but, actually, its true and we Westerners also have our own share of very "unique" and somewhat questionable education methods and programs for our own Western children as well. Anyway, there are some more of these DPRK videos with English subtitles in the "Online Music Videos" and "Japanese TV Shows" sections of my RobPongi.com site. But there is one more short cip of "The Genius Kids" here:

http://www.robpongi.com/pages/comboGKIDS08.html

and this one includes a an expert review at the end by Mr. Baek Jinhoon, who is a very well-known and very highly educated Korean citizen and president of Chosun Ilbo News Agency here in Tokyo. And, obviously, he speaks perfect Japanese at a very rapid speed! And, yes, indeed, this one was very difficult to translate, but I assure you that it and all of the of the others on my site are accurate as I had them all checked by bilingual Japanese and some trilingual Koreans as well. Also, I should note that these videos do not reflect my views nor those of anyone else working with me.

And, as for traveling to and conducting interviews for a documentary, if you're not an American citizen (remember the US and DPRK are still "officially" at war and, because of that, I have been told that it is quite difficult for American journalists to enter the North) I think that your best chance for production would be during the annual "Mass Games" which are government-organized events glorifying its two leaders, and they involve over 100,000 performers including "The Genius Kids". And it is all a truly spectacular and utterly astounding show of shows that tourists from all over the globe now travel to see. You can read more about it in Wikipedia here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Games

and there are now some travel agencies that specialize in obtaining visas and scheduling tours for tourists from all over nowadays. But, from what I have read, it is not exactly a pleasant trip and, if you go there, you will have at least one guide who will always be with you and making sure that you don't wander off into the wrong alleyways in Pyongyang etc. Also, this is not easy, but I believe that if you are a non-American journalist who is part of a bonafide news agency, it is possible to be granted a journalist visa and then also the opportunity to film and speak with some elite members of Mr. Kim's regime. And, I am pretty sure that if all the above happens, then you could very possibly be granted access to "The Genius Kids" as, basically, they are what Mr. Kim wants the world to see. And it has been done before, so I think that you can do it too, but only if you are not an American citizen or do not have another nationality to possibly enter the DPRK with. But, again, this will NOT be an easy undertaking by any means. If you do choose North Korea, I really think that you can do it and you will get the most interesting documentary film from any Asian at this time. Below is another Wiki page for your reference - The North Korea Travel Guide:

http://wikitravel.org/en/North_Korea

And, really, if there is anyway that you can do this, please do so for the sake of humanity the world over. For sure, such a documentary could tremendously help illuminate much of this very spectacular and artistic cultural that is often very misunderstood IMHO. And, of course, if you should have any questions at all on this, please let me know and I will help you all that I can.

Best of luck,

Rob Pongi
Tokyo, Japan
posted by robpongi at 6:50 PM on November 12, 2007 [2 favorites]