A 9-year-old math prodigy began university life Tuesday - and
promptly declared his first lesson "easy".
"I learnt it two years ago," March Tian Boedihardjo said after
attending the lecture on mathematical analysis at Hong Kong Baptist
University.
Asked what he had learned, he said: "You would not understand
that."
The Hong Kong-born Indonesian-Chinese was admitted to a
five-year undergraduate and master's program in math by the
university last month after obtaining an A in both math and further
math, and a B in statistics in the General Certificate of Education
(GCE) A-levels in the United Kingdom. He has also taken courses in
Oxford.
The Hong Kong university's decision to admit him had sparked
debate on whether such a young child could communicate with the
older students and get used to campus life.
Yesterday, March was accompanied by his father, who carried his
son's school bag and raincoat. He will attend his son's lessons for
the first six months.
The little genius had a hectic schedule. He had a math class at
8:30 am, followed by a two-hour Spanish class at 11:30 am. He
attended the convocation ceremony after lunch.
March said he felt excited getting into university as he could
continue learning math.
However, unlike at the press conference held last month to
announce his admission - where he seemed relaxed and toyed with the
microphone - March appeared impatient and annoyed when meeting the
media yesterday, continually asking his father whether he could
leave.
March said he was confident that he would adapt to campus life
and that he preferred to live in Hong Kong. "Life in the United
Kingdom was boring," he said.
March's schoolmate Janice Yim, a translation major, said she
attempted to greet the prodigy.
"But he did not respond. He was surrounded by his father and
university staff. He was too shy," she said.
But Fion Wong, a fellow student in the Spanish class, said she
was impressed by March.
"He introduced himself in Spanish. He was eager to express
himself and chat with the teacher," she said.
Extra security staff were deployed on the campus to prevent
reporters from sneaking into the classrooms.
University president Ng Ching-fai said they were confident that
March will be nurtured well as they will allocate extra resources
to help the child with his social skills and a tailor-made
curriculum.
"We will adjust the curriculum if he finds it too easy," he
said.
"He is very impressive. He is still a child, but speaks in an
orderly and logical manner," he said.
Ng urged the media not to put the child under the spotlight.
"The pressure will affect his studies and annoy his
schoolmates," he said.
(China Daily September 5, 2007)