The Guardian – Emine Saner
““I don’t want to be an ordinary kid,” says 10-year-old Rhea, in the TV show Child Genius. And it’s clear she’s not. She knows how to spell “eleemosynary” – the answer to the question that earned her the title of Child Genius 2016. The runner-up, nine-year-old Saffy, is also clearly not ordinary. This week, in the Channel 4 programme – essentially a show that poses graduate-level questions to mostly primary school-age children – her specialist subject was “The premiership of Margaret Thatcher: monetary policy and tax reform, 1979-1990.” Saffy wants to be prime minister. Apart from being astounded that people who are so small that they need to stand on boxes to reach the podium know obscure answers to questions about spider mimicry or Russian ballet, and can do mental arithmetic within seconds, it was a fascinating glimpse into the families who raise gifted children, and what it takes to get them into a competition such as this. About five or six hours’ work a day, says Rhea.”(more)