Blogpost 5: Shinichi Kudo, A Prodigy?

I have observed that during these past few years, lot of genius kids were featured on news, documentation shows and as well as on talent shows on television. They were featured because of their extremely high intellectual capability compared to a typical child.

Like Shinichi Kudo in Detective Conan, real name of Conan Edogawa when he was not yet transformed to a 7-year-old kid, he is admired because of his remarkable detective skills such as the ability to remember every detail of an investigation, photographic memory in recalling such subordinate facts, being meticulous to details allows him to notice minor contradicting testimonies and arrangements in crime scenes and using logic in order to connect such inconsistencies to the crime scenes. And due to these skills he is considered as a prodigious high school detective. On the other hand, Conan Edogawa is also described by other characters as a genius because they notice what traits Conan possesses.

In relation to that, I researched about genius kids and child prodigies. I found this article entitled "Child Prodigies: A Distinctive Form of Giftedness" written by David Fieldman at the website davidsongifted. According to this article, the word prodigy was first used in early times referring to any happening that is apparently “out of the usual course of nature” or “inexplicable or “monstrous”. It is a far away definition from human behavior and exceptional mental talent. But as time passed by, there has been a point of concentration in studies of the prodigy and come up with a recent definition that is a lot different from early definition. Recently, prodigy is defined as “highly gifted or academically talented child”.

"... it labels the prodigy as a distinctly human phenomenon that can only occur with the support and assistance of other human beings..." - David Fieldman

The article stated that prodigy was referred to a child who is performing compared to a child who is performing equipped adult in a very demanding field of specialization. In Detective Conan, Shinichi is believed to be prodigious because he is above the standards of executing tasks in investigating crime scenes and detecting criminals. And of course, he is supported by his family and friends.

Even though prodigious child seems to be perfect because of their exceptional mental ability, they are vulnerable to a variety of hard to deal adjustments. I have read this article entitled "Vulnerabilities of Highly Gifted Children" by Wendy Roedell at the website davidsongifted. According to this article, children with extraordinary advanced intellectual skills have problems on uneven development, self-definition, intense sensitivity, perfectionism, alienation, role conflict, inappropriate environments and adult expectations. It is not easy to contain the ability to comprehend, reason and think creatively like an adult and natural feelings and reactions of a child in a childish body.

"Children with unusually advanced intellectual development are uniquely vulnerable." - Wendy Roedell

There is a gap between a child's advanced mental ability and more age-appropriate social and physical skills. And this gap can lead to imaginary expectations for executing tasks. They use their extraordinary intellectual abilities to conceptualize ambition and detailed ideals. Sometimes, adult is the reason of child's perfectionism among themselves. Parents and teachers overschedule them with lessons and worthwhile activities, pile into extra work and never seem contented and fulfilled.

In conclusion, after reading the two articles, I have realized that Shinichi Kudo is really a prodigy but he has his own vulnerabilities like other people in the world. Nobody is perfect. But we can conquer this weaknesses through indeed balance of our prodigious life.