I'm from the same part of India that this girl is. This kind of crap is very common there. The kids who do this are not necessarily intelligent, they usually just crammed for years. Nor do they have a say in the matter. Everything is orchestrated by the parents. It's like a dog show -- the parents compete using their kids. Needless to say, the kid's childhood and normal development are completely derailed (I've seen it in person). The parents aren't evil; it's just a facet of the hyper-competitive society. The best way to describe it is that it's India's version of the contest in Little Miss Sunshine.
The negative comments here don't come close to capturing how messed up this is.
I've seen this kind of thing a lot - it's not limited to India - and completely agree with you that it's almost always the parent(s) pushing the kid, and very sad. Every now and then you see some 11-year-old or 13-year-old finishing an undergraduate degree, paraded in front of foolish journalists who dutifully put out the next "genius" story. Same thing with most musical prodigies - the 9-year old performing with the local philharmonic or what have you.
Kids don't care about super-achievement of credentials. Mostly they just want to know their parents love them and to be like other kids. It's parents who perversely put their children through this, to fill their own ego needs. Your dog show analogy is unfortunately apt.
Actually, kids can be hyper-focused on credentials. That's why they're so susceptible. The very same behavioral triggers can create obsessions in videogames, especially RPG's. The nice thing about 'real-world' credentials is that they have a path leading out of that mess, whereas videogames often don't.
I'm unconvinced. Sure, children can internalize anything very quickly - the question is why this rather than that? I'm sure that little girl was very focused on achieving her Microsoft certification. But I'll bet you the task itself was originally handed to her by a parent, and that her motivation had everything to do with pleasing that parent.
As for "a path leading out of that mess", the only path I know is growing as a person. What's sad about these manufactured prodigies is that they end up having to do a lot of that the hard way, if they do it at all.
I think you underestimate the agency that a nine year old can have, and the influence of the extended family, friends, and role models. It's probable that the specific task was handed to her, yes. And it's often true that parents push their children too far. But I think it's also possible she decided to do it on her own after reading or hearing some inspirational story.
I am projecting my own experience as a child onto her, but when I was her age I heard about Microsoft credentials. I considered trying for them, but my mother's friend told me they were a distraction, and gave me a copy of Turbo C++ instead. I can't remember ever thinking about pleasing my parents. It never entered my conscious thought. I just knew I wanted to learn to program computers, and I couldn't, in that time, be interested in computers as a kid and envision Microsoft's credentials with the disdain that I do now. I suspect it's the same now, in India.
It's true that the only way out of credentialism is growing oneself as a person, and finding a way to develop a self-referent identity. The advantage is that one grows while striving, and one can often find oneself in much better place, with better social support, and deeper values. It's a lot more difficult to see this in the construct of an RPG, or in most public high-schools.
Yes, I acknowledge what you're talking about is real (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=400286), and the two phenomena are quite different, though they may be difficult to distinguish from the outside.
arrgh! such stuff happens?!
Thank god it was me and my brother who kept annoying our parents to buy us a computer and not the parents pushing me to anything.
I'm not sure about hyper-competitiveness but 2-3 of my college friends from that part of India still get beaten up by their parents.
Why just a microsoft certification ? there can be so much more the girl can do with her abilities!! things that are more fruitful, knowledge that is more universal than a microsoft certy!
"This kind of crap is very common there"... well the article definitely says that she broke a world record. How can that be a common feat?
The way I look at it, her parents are trying to show her the best path possible and use her skills (memorizing thirukkural when you are 3 is awesome, 1330 couplets ).
It certainly did not turn out so bad in Tiger Wood's case...
I read such stories almost every week in India. X kid doing that or this. All crap.
your point: the parents compete using their kids
it's right.
We don't see any of these kids in the newspapers when they are grown up. Why? Because these kids aren't born for what they are forced to do. Once they start using their brains, they change and begin to pursue what they want.
The negative comments here don't come close to capturing how messed up this is.