Name: Irene
Article title: 13 and ready for university
source: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_486723.html#
Name of the author: Amelia Tan
Date of the article: Feb 5, 2010
13 and ready for university
A SINGAPOREAN boy sat for the British equivalent of the GCE A-level examinations last year and aced all his papers - and he was not even 13 yet.
Muhammad Haikal Abdullah Zain, a former student of Rosyth School, scored straight As in Biology, Physics and Chemistry, which he took last November.
He turned 13 a month later and plans to apply to study medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The A-level exams Haikal sat last year carry the same weight as the GCE A levels taken by junior college students here, said the British Council, which administers the exam.
NUS confirmed it would accept students with those qualifications.
Said its office of admissions director R. Rajaram: 'We recently learnt of his interest in applying to NUS. We will be pleased to assess his application when we receive it.'
My Reflection:
This article is mainly talking about a 13-year-old talent student, Muhammad Haikal Abdullah Zain, in Singapore. He once was a student of Rosyth School and got As of Biology, Physics and Chemistry in A-level examinations last year. Now, he is going to applying for Medicine Course in NUS and NUS also welcomes him.
I do not know how the Singaporeans think about Muhammad Haikal Abdullah Zain, but students like him, who are extreme talent and go to the university at a very young age, really caused lots of discussion in China in the past ten years. As we all know that such students are do well in their major subjects, it does not mean that they are all-round students. They lack enough integrated education such as PE, Art, Social Studies and Communicating Skill as well as a solid foundation of their major subjects. The more important is that university is more complicated. After being a university students, these talents are difficult to adapt to the new environment and may not get along well with others. In addition, they are Children after all. They are not easy to have a good self-control and be alert to the temptation from wild out-doors. But on the other hand, being a younger university students can save much time. Students may spend this time on what they are interested in. Though they lack experience, if they try, they can figure it out and gain experience from university life. After graduated, they are more competive than others due to their youth and definitely will have more risk. To be a younger university students or not is a really controversial issue. In the past ten years, there were so much pity as well as success. It must be considered on a case-by-case basis. However, I strongly against that parents force their children to study day and night to be such students and require them to receive higher education when they are not prepared. If it is the children's own choice, I think it better to respect them. Anyway, it is their confidence and pride to choose facing the new challenge. If they fail, it is their responsibility to pay the price.
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ReplyDeleteI roughly agree with your ideas. being a younger university student is really a double-edged sword for children nowadays. On one hand, it can save time for them because they do not need to study those unnecessary subjects as well as can help their family to gain a lot of fame from their relatives, neighbors, etc. On the other hand, without taking secondary school and junior college, those young talents directly step into a "little societly". They will definitely suffer a lot because they lack some useful skills in communication and self-control. To this point, some of them may not be able to sustain their distinguished performance which allow them to go into the university so early. Even though, I still believe that some of them can go through all those difficulties and become successful. In my opinion, whether to be a younger university student or not depends on themselves. They should make their own choice. Their parents, also, should help them make the right decision which is suitable and proper for their children. --- Corbin (Guan Mingyang)
ReplyDeleteby Iris:
ReplyDelete---------
The news is quite astonishing and discussible. At first, I strongly admit that the 13 year old boy is a talent and I admire the gift he has because he is able to master the same amount of knowledge as us but in a much less time than us. However, I don’t think it is good for him to go to university in such a young age. Considering the situation on the campus, students are all about 20 years old, so there must be a big generation gap between the young boy and others, he is possible to be seen as the unusual talented boy in others eyes, then he will feel solitary and under big mental pressure. Besides, college is like a primary society so it is essential for students to have the ability to study as well as to deal with interpersonal relationships. Hence if the boy is not as mature as the people around him, he may come up with lots of problems and he cannot fully enjoy the college life.