What happens to child prodigies?

[Dr Spaceman]

It seems like every other year or so the news networks will run a story about a child prodigy (or group of them) who takes piano lessons at Juilliard or astrophysics at Berkeley. You know, the kinds of kids who are able to quickly dash off math problems at age eight that 22-year-old math majors struggle through. We're all impressed by their abilities, but it seems to me that this is the last we ever hear from these kids.

With the exception of perhaps a few classical composers (since I'm not overly familiar with them) I can't think of anyone who's added greatly to culture, politics, or science in the past century.

I think it's maybe one of two things: the children reach their intellectual peak very early, or they are unable to really function in the real world due to their (most likely) profound lack of societal norms. Can you imagine going to college at twelve years old? You probably wouldn't have any friends, couldn't party with your classmates, and you'd be all into Halo 3 when everyone else has moved on to better games! (Just kidding, Halo people, it was a bit easy)

So, what happens to these kids? Do they phase out into obscurity, teach calculus at their local community college, or participate in societal realms I am not aware of? What the hell happens to them?

 

[Snowalker]

They grow up, live a normal life, they die.

 

[Abedeus]

I think with an IQ of 148 at the age of 14 I do qualify as a "prodigy".

I was doing Math and Sudoku at the same time. I know that Geometry isn't complex, but come ON! It's pretty normal for me.

Or how I skipped 3 classes at a private English school because I was better than any non-adult English-speaking person. And probably better than a lot of adults. That's why I no longer care about my English grades at school - they will never be a true measure of my language skill.

Same goes for being considered a "nerd" when you know what the theory of relativity is all about. And it was really hard to make people at school understand me. Or how I was the only person in a group of 15 (except for my Spanish teacher) who knew who Stephen Hawkings is.


So my guess is - people even more gifted than me have to perish and abandon their potential, at least in a country like Poland. It took those idiots 3 years to skip me another 3 years in English. Because what'd it say about a school where a 6th grader is better than people 6 years older?

 

[James Cassidy]

I was actually considered a child prodigy with a IQ of 148 as well and very smart to boot, but I was an artist so many people didn't see me as smart.

I had the option to ski, but I chose not to for the same reason you mentioned....I would have been out of place. I wanted to grow like everyone else, but I gotten lazy over the years cause things got too easy.

I am smart enough to know a lot, but if I don;t know I can easily learn, but I am lazy.

 

[Spudgun Man]

They just realise no one cares and get on with life.

 

[CrazyNick]

Or how I was the only person in a group of 15 (except for my Spanish teacher) who knew who Stephen Hawkings is.

Seriously? How do they not know? I think you may be stuck with a group of idiots

 

[Abedeus]

I was actually considered a child prodigy with a IQ of 148 as well and very smart to boot, but I was an artist so many people didn't see me as smart.

I had the option to ski, but I chose not to for the same reason you mentioned....I would have been out of place. I wanted to grow like everyone else, but I gotten lazy over the years cause things got too easy.

I am smart enough to know a lot, but if I don;t know I can easily learn, but I am lazy.

Here, here. I'm lazy as hell. I just don't care about stuff. It's usually not demanding enough.

For example, the only thing worthwile I did in the school was a game of Sudoku I managed to finish in two pauses.

Guess what I was doing the night (and every previous one) before the most important test everyone has to take at the end of 6th grade? Played Diablo 2 the whole day.

Same goes for the 9th grade test - only with Fable: TLC.

I admit I studied a bit, but only Geography - my Middle School's principal have been a retarded fishmonkey for a while now, so he haven't taught me anything.

Or how I was the only person in a group of 15 (except for my Spanish teacher) who knew who Stephen Hawkings is.

Seriously? How do they not know? I think you may be stuck with a group of idiots

Probably. I already mentioned it in some thread that everyone except for about 5-6 people is retarded.

They also think Sudoku is too hard to understand.

 

[fix-the-spade]

They grow into adult Prodigies and rock up Leeds & Reading.

 

[Mr. Squirrel]

They come here, to the Escapist!

 

[Chaz D]

I was born with an unheard of IQ of 178, but you will never know my name. Me and my child prodigy brothers and sisters are all manipulating the world from behind the scenes in our underground bunker.

- This post never happened -

 

[TheMatt]

I too had an IQ of 148 but never considered myself a prodigy of any kind, I just knew a hell of a lot more about Star Trek then the other guy.

In answer to your question, most "smart" ppl, smarten up by the age of 18 and kill their IQ's with drugs, alcohol and woman.

and good on them...

 

[ace_of_something]

They're eaten by a secret cult that runs the world when they turn 22.

 

[Falseprophet]

The thing about a child prodigy, is they're special only because they have their talents as children.
As they grow up they have to expand and build their own notable style, or they simply become ignored. As they get older, they have to become unique.
An eight year old who can play Beethoven's 154th upside down and backwards is great. But a 24 year old who can play Beethoven's 154th upside down and backwards, is rather normal.

I think you win this thread.

You can also read this different take [http://www.uwgb.edu/DutchS/PSEUDOSC/WhyAntiInt.htm] (you might want to skip the "Cross-Cultural Test" section, which is kind of math-heavy, and scroll down to "Tinkering versus Creativity"). This is the money section:

Now we can address the contention that children are innately curious. They are not in the sense used here - they are tinkerers. The commonplace observation that children have short attention spans is direct refutation of the notion that they are creative and curious in any deep sense. The tragedy of our society is not that so many people outgrow their childlike curiosity, but that so few do. The adult equivalent of childlike curiosity is channel surfing and the ten-second sound bite.

Mozart was one of the most creative individuals who ever lived. I have a record of his greatest hits and the striking thing is that all the pieces are completely different. Mozart composed music at age three, but none of his juvenile pieces are played today except as musical curiosities. His juvenile pieces are variations on existing patterns. As a child, he was a tinkerer. A very bright one, to be sure - he was Mozart after all - but still only a tinkerer. His adult creativity vastly exceeded his creativity as a child, and even as an adult, his last few years vastly outshone his earlier period. We also should note that his childhood achievements were hyped, and in some cases assisted, by his father.

Most of what passes for "creativity" in children is actually ultra-linear thinking. It seems creative only because it's incongruous, and it's incongruous because it's so literal that not even the dullest adult would reason that way. The old joke about a child who asks his pregnant mother why, if she loves the new baby, she ate it is a perfect illustration.

 

[Cheesus333]

Or how I was the only person in a group of 15 (except for my Spanish teacher) who knew who Stephen Hawkings is.

Watch out for that. Tense management is tricky.

 

[TheDustyBanana]

I think they just kinda fade away into obscurity because "The Wiz Man" doesn't have the same ring to it as "The Wiz Kid".

And yeah, I just paraphrased a Ben Folds song. What of it?