University urged to support boy's personal development as well as academic achievements
Putting a nine-year-old child into a tertiary institution may create 'serious social-life issues', experts warned yesterday as Baptist University offered a place to maths prodigy March Boedihardjo.
They said the differences with other students, biologically and psychologically, could lead to problems with integration.
Tertiary institutions, which have recently taken in a number of gifted youngsters, should quickly find ways to accommodate them, they said.
Cheng Wei-hung, director of Australian Top Training Institute, a local counselling service for gifted children, said the child's age meant he may face problems with peers at college. 'He is only nine years old. He is still immature. There could be a serious problem in his social life,' he said.
In tertiary education, he said, personal development was as important as academic achievements. 'We cannot only see his strength.'
Echo Wu Hongyan, an expert on the education of gifted children, agreed that the nine-year-old should focus on social and emotional development as he strives for good scores.