The special needs of gifted students are well recognised, one example being the Academy for Gifted Education soon to be launched in Hong Kong to extend the normal school curriculum for bright pupils. Child student prodigies, however, test the boundaries of conventional education. They are capable of skipping most normal schooling to study alongside the brightest young university undergraduates.
But they are still children, and there is little consensus among parents, educationists and educational psychologists about what is best for them in the long run. A case in point may be nine-year-old Hong Kong boy March Boedihardjo, who scored two As in mathematics in the British A-level examinations. Baptist University has admitted him in the 2007-08 academic year for five years of study for degrees in mathematical science and mathematical philosophy.
There was interest, too, from other institutions in providing March with opportunities to develop his talent at university level, but also reservations among administrators and academics about the transition from school to full campus life just yet.
Nonetheless, the youngest student to enter a Hong Kong university has earned the distinction with hard work that made the best of his extraordinary gifts. Age should not be a barrier to development of his full potential, or that of other exceptionally gifted young students. It is important for Hong Kong to retain and nurture the very brightest of its young people if it is to maintain a competitive edge.
March is described as 'very mature', although he was engagingly typical of his age at times during interviews yesterday. Moreover, he has the experience of two years' study at age seven and eight at a tutorial college for sixth-formers at Oxford, where he moved with his father when his brother attended Oxford University at the age of 14. Baptist University assessed the nine-year-old thoroughly before deciding he was suitable to pursue his studies at university level. It has undertaken to provide a framework for personal growth and a fulfilling campus life as well as developing academic intelligence.
That said, many will remain unconvinced that the achievement is worth the sacrifice of a normal childhood, and be concerned about March's social and emotional growth into the responsibilities and opportunities of university life.