<p>Valentine: As you know there are many different kinds of GCE O level certificates (General Certificate of Examination, Ordinary Level). Since you have studied under the British system, I am sure you know what a good “O” level certificate is. </p>
<ol>
<li>O level, 8 subjects, mostly "A"s : Holders of such certificates might enter US community colleges, and possibly some 2 year US colleges. They can also enter good “Junior Colleges” in Singapore</li>
<li>O level, 8 subjects, mostly "C"s : Such certificates are not good, and holders of such certificates will not get into CC in US, or “Junior Colleges” in Singapore.</li>
<li>O level 4 subjects, mostly "C"s : Holders of such certificates normally go to trade schools, or dropout of schools.</li>
<li>O level 1 subject, “C” (which Ainan got) : I do not know the purpose of such a certificate except perhaps to show that he can understand basic chemistry. Perhaps the reason why no one try to sit for a single subject is because it does not show sufficient proficiency to gain admittance anywhere. Like I said in previous post, Ainan is a smart kid to be able to take a single subject in basic chemistry at 7 years old. I am not detracting from his achievement, but want to say that the certificate that he holds does not get him anywhere (except that you can use it to SELF-REGISTER him as the “Youngest To Attain A GCE ‘O’ Level Certificate” in the [Record</a> Breakers Singapore](<a href=“singaporebookofrecords.com”>singaporebookofrecords.com) and then circulate SELF-WRITTEN press report, written in 3rd person writing style).</li>
</ol>
<p>I am sure you are well aware that there are more reasons that just his height that he is not admitted to the Universities in Singapore, like NUS and NTU. I don’t meant to be rude, but age aside, Ainan does not even remotely meet the academic criterias at of the Universities at all. Since you live in Singapore, I am sure you already know that. The criterias are clearly listed on their websites, with links below:</p>
<p>Similarly, a single O level subject with a “C” will not be enough to show academic readiness for colleges in the US as well. You are wrong to think that colleges in US have much lower requirements that Singapore Universities. That is simply incorrect.</p>
<p>The only reason NTU gave for not accepting Ainan, at this time, was the safety consideration. They issued a statement to this effect, that their benches were too high for him and their chemical containers too large.</p>
<p>I find the manner of discussion on this site hostile and rather saddening. If Ainan is not to have access to higher level Chemistry, his interest in it cannot grow any further. That is the issue. Whatever might be usual for Universities is irrelevant since his needs are not usual.</p>
<p>Jason is mistaken about his view of events re. the Singapore Book of Records. You cannot “self-register”. Each record is checked by the staff there, to ascertain its merit, truth and accuracy. This is a process that can take weeks or months. As for a “self-written” press report. We wrote no such report. Several journalists wrote stories for themselves: that is, in fact, their job. </p>
<p>It amazes me that Jason can assert, as truths, things he is only in fact assuming (ie. making up on the spot) for himself. </p>
<p>As for tokenadult, I will try to find the original paper for that citation when I have time. </p>
<p>I am not sure this online conversation is productive for me. It seems to have turned into a lot of stone-throwing - and personally I don’t like to be the catcher of such things.</p>
<p>9 year old boy instead of 7. But he completed “eight GCSEs”. Is GCSE equivalent to “O” level? Also he could do Q & A during press conference.
His father was trying to enroll him in the local primary schools.
“His father, Tony Boedihardjo, an ethnic Chinese originally from Indonesia, recognised his son’s intellectual gifts early, yet still wanted to keep him in his local state primary school.”</p>
<p>Valentine : Please tell me that you did not write these so called PRESS REPORT, with claims of earliest crawler, earliest walker, earliest talker and earliest runner. Were these “self written” or did a reporter write it? If you wrote this, please let us know how you came upon the data?</p>
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<p>Were you also the “writer” of this press release that was distributed as news?</p>
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<p>What about this press release? Was this self written? Please explain to us how a 6 year old could be a former pianist and composer (and distributed as a press release)</p>
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<p>And what about this, describing Press Release describing Valentine (not Ainan) in a strange third person writing style. Is this written by you, and distributed? Or was it written by a real reporter?</p>
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<p>You posted a quote that says there are only 20 child prodigies studied… and yet your family already have 3 prodigies and wrote PRESS RELEASES about them. For a person who claims that you do not know how to read music, how could you tell that your 8 month old is a genius and music prodigy and make press releases.</p>
<p>People won’t mind that much if it was a personal blog. However, to issue a formal press release about the above is stretching it too far…</p>
<p>GCSE was brought in to replace the O level, in Britain, about 20 years ago, because the O level had one big problem: only the top 20 % were able to secure even the lowest pass. So, the GCSE was invented to allow everyone to pass. The idea was to give everyone a qualification - or a chance at one. It is a much easier exam, lower in challenge and in content.</p>
<p>By the time Ainan is 9 and a half (the age of that boy), he will have done a lot more things too. He won’t be taking GCSEs though - O levels, A levels and higher qualifications only.</p>
<p>All information in the press releases is factual. My children do show musical ability. Ainan could play the piano and he was composing some music. He lost interest in it, however and focussed on science. </p>
<p>I wrote three press releases. I did not write a report about the Singapore Book of Records as you asserted (without evidence of such a report since there isn’t one), in your earlier post.</p>
<p>The data is accurate. I came upon it by being there as a father. Very simple really.</p>
<p>Yes, only around 20 child prodigies have ever been studied. That does not mean there have only been 20 prodigies in history - it means that only 20 have been looked at, with attention. That means that little is known about them. Again, very simple and self-explanatory.</p>
<p>I understand why you don’t want to participate in the conversation anymore, Valentine. It is not my intent to badger and/or humiliate you; nor do I imagine it is the intent of Jason, Marite, or some of the other posters on this thread who have questioned you.</p>
<p>However, you leave the door wiiiiiiiiide open for questioning, because you have made statements about your children that are quite frankly outlandish (Ainan’s speaking of the word “water”, for example, at several weeks of age…I would love a speech/language specialist to even validate the possibility that a newborn has the physical capacity to produce any phoneme, much less a two syllable word).</p>
<p>Music is a domain in which I am extremely familiar, and would love to know what your son was playing on the piano before age six, as well as the kind of music he was composing. I have seen people post video of their so-called “prodigious” musicians at early ages, and 99% are not prodigies, in fact, not even close. However, perhaps your son was one…if so, have you some video to share, because I would be interested to see it. Musical prodigies is an area of particular interest to me.</p>
<p>^^Experts have also said that the brains of young children (age 7) are not sufficiently developed to think abstractly. This may be true of most people, but is false to say that <em>no one</em> can think abstractly at that age…</p>
<p>Frankly, it’s not uncommon that someone that is talented would also be very talented at music. If you look at the all-state violinists, it is almost the same list as the people with the highest AMC.</p>
<p>Valentine:
You tends to exaggerate a lot in your so called press releases which badly damage your credibility. All children have lots of interests, some of which are short-lifed. However, this is different from issuing public press releases like the ones you were doing.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Your child give a 1 hour talk when he was 7, to a small group of kids. You then issue a press release and claim that he was “The World’s Youngest Science Teacher”. Would anyone giving a talk for 1 hour become a Teacher? What about 10 mins? Please note that teacher is a vocation, and not an activity that you do for an hour.</p></li>
<li><p>You also issue a press release about your child saying he is
Does playing on the piano make a child a “former pianist”. If so, all the parents here who have pianoes at home will have former pianist. He is 7 years old now. How many years did he played the piano to make him a former pianist and composer? Again, please note that the “normal meaning” of the word former pianist ascribed it to a vocation. It is not something that a child do for a short while. The same for saying that your child is a former composer, gifted in music.</p></li>
<li><p>You described your child as a young scientist at 7. Is the term “young scientist” used because he did a few science experiments?</p></li>
</ol>
Did you have a degree in Physics at 17 when you were a physicist, or were you a “physicist” because you were doing physics experiments at 17 as an intern? When you left Cambridge, did you get your degree. If you have a degree, what age did you have it? Another report written by you says that you were working as a magazine editor at the age of 22. Did you change your vocation then? I am just trying to understand you better and understand the claim that you’re a child prodigy and former physicist. I am just asking question, and am not assuming anything.</p>
<p>Please note that I am not trying to be disrespectful or rude. I am just trying to understand the words that you were using so freely, like youngest teacher, former pianist, former composer, young scientist, former physicist, etc.</p>
<p>While I honestly agree with what Jason has been saying here, let’s not get too critical. Valentine clearly loves his children and wants to get them good educations. Whether Ainan can truly be called a “former composer”, “the world’s youngest teacher”, so on and on, is perhaps debatable, but I do support Valentine’s ultimate goals and his dedication to his kids. Valentine, I hope that your son’s love of Chemistry, as well as his all around academic, emotional, and physical growth continue to flourish to new heights as he progresses into adulthood :)</p>
<p>To Valentine – we don’t know Ainan or what he has done. But the reason you are encountering what you perceive as “hostility” is that this is a college board, and we are all intimately familiar with university entrance requirements, and collectively we have a good understanding of various testing rubrics, whether it is GCSE’s, O-levels, A-levels, AP, IB, SATS, TOEFL, etc. – and we know how colleges treat them.</p>
<p>You wrote:
That is a FALSE statement. No reputable American university “recruits” based on O levels, and certainly not based on a single O level.</p>
<p>Even if they did – a C is not a very good grade on an O level. Yes, it is impressive for a 7 year old, but for a prospective university student it is a poor grade. </p>
<p>When you make some statements that are demonstrably false (or ignorant), that undermines your credibility as to anything else you say.</p>
<p>Yes, I think it has been well established that, other issues aside, Valentine certainly has an entirely inaccurate picture of what an American undergraduate chemistry education entails, and where O and A levels fit in regards to that education, and the high school education that precedes it.</p>
<p>There are many US universities advertising in Singapore that they will recruit students directly at O level. This is their policy. They promote themselves heavily to O level students.</p>
<p>If a statement is made by me, it has a basis.</p>
<p>Frankly the tone of what you write really shouldn’t be dignified with a reply. Yet, I will do so on a couple of points.</p>
<p>I was a physicist at 17, handling a research project myself (in fact I completed two pieces of work in my time there). I was not an “intern”. We had no such concept in the UK. I was an active researcher.</p>
<p>Later on I changed direction, yes. Many people do that Jason. It is not a cause for suspicion, it is called human development. </p>
<p>You show a strong bias against British education. A levels are not “easy to get” - and one in ten securing As does not seem an outrageous number - indeed, it is a reasonable number, by most standards.</p>
<p>My dear Valentine,
Frankly you should take your own advice and stop replying. Every one of your posts discredits you further. Your continual insistance on your son’s age, your comments about your other children and your utter disregard for the informed information given to you here about the US college system would be comical were they not the reflection of a very frustrated person who, imo, needs much more help than his son.</p>
<p>Valentine : Please do not post FALSE information like this on the board. When you start posting FALSE information like what you said, people who are intimately familar with the system gets upset. </p>
<p>10 % of students who take the exams got 3 As, ie. “A” and “A” and “A”.
By simple probability, the number of student who gets just 1 “A” is at least 46%!!!
(i.e. 46%x46%x46% is about 10%, neglecting those people who take 4 subjects and did well even !!!)
With the passing rate of 96.9 %, the number of students who might fail the exam is only 3.1%!!!</p>
<p>That is why the recent article says that
</p>
<p>I am not bias against the British eduation system, like what you said. On the contrary, I am a product of the British education system myself, and I completed both the O and A levels, with flying colors. I took 4 “A” level subjects and get 4 As (“A” grade for each of the subjects Physics, Chemistry, Math and Further Math) from a elite school in Singapore. There were many other people, beside myself who got 4 "A"s (ie 4 A grades for 4 subjects), so I know how terribly easy it is, and it is nothing to brag about!!!</p>
<p>You son has not even taken a single “A” level yet, and you are coming to an American board and tell us how great the “A” levels are. You forgot that there might be people here intimately familar with the system and can spot the FALSE statement that you are trying to make here.</p>
<p>Valentine; As others have posted, I am sure that you love your very-bright children tremendously, and are very proud of them. I want you to look towards the future, and realize that the very nature of your “promotion” of your children in the media and in general, will put a great deal of stress on them - especially during those troubling teen years, when they are no longer “wunderkind” or the youngest little prodigies. Your pride is all tied up in your children’s accomplishments - I strongly urge you to release your stake in this, and work towards letting go. Yes, try to help them get the best education, but realize that education is NOT A RACE, and their lives will not be worse if they do not master a specific subject on your timetable.</p>