VietNamNet Bridge – They are called “child prodigies” but they are uncomfortable with the designation and just want to be known as normal students.

Everyday life of child prodigies

The girl who wishes to be a normal student

H’Din in Ea Ba of Song Hinh District of Phu Yen Province

This summer, H’Din in Ea Ba of Song Hinh District of Phu Yen Province does not go to school. She has to take care of 30 cows every day, and her skin turns dark because of the scorching sun.

H’Din became uncommunicative. She would scowl at people who reminded her of the past, when she suddenly became famous because she could read before she could talk.

At the age of three, the girl could not say “mi” or “ma” like the other children. However, she was not born deaf as thought by her parents because she responded if someone called her.

In early 2007, when H’Din was brought to a grocery store nearby, she suddenly pointed to a calendar and said “Chuc mung nam moi” (Happy New Year).

The girl then read all the words she saw on the calendar and also read the ad pieces stuck on the wall. H’Din not only could read words, but numerals as well. At that moment, H’Din began talking.

The news that a girl could read before she could talk spread out rapidly in the locality. It was really miraculous that the girl could read without any mistakes, while her father only finished primary school, and her mother was illiterate.

However, the ability of the girl made her suffer.  Locals flocked to her house to see H’Din with their eyes.

“They told me to read everything, stared at me from head to toe. I felt annoyed about that,” she said.

Y Vang, the father of H’Din, said some people with poisonous tongue said her daughter was “abnormal” because she was haunted.

“This frightened my daughter. She tried to hide herself all the time at home and did not want to see any stranger,” Y Vang said.

However, the girl has lived with the title “child prodigy” over the last four years.

“If I make mistakes with my school work, my classmates make fun of me, saying even a child prodigy cannot solve questions,” she said.

Meanwhile, H’Din’s teacher felt sorry for her, saying that she has been burdened with the title “child prodigy”.

“The girl does not have many classmates,” she commented.

The child prodigy who does not want to attend school

Dang Huu Nam in Phan Hoa Commune, Bac Binh District of Binh Thuan Province became famous in 2012 when he suddenly could read words in Vietnamese, English and Chinese at the age of four.

He could easily read words in books, newspapers and websites. He read everything in the textbooks for second and third graders and then read the more difficult words in the textbooks for ninth graders.

However, the child prodigy does not like going to school.

“He goes to a nursery school, but he usually plays truant,” said Lam Thi Kiem, Nam’s aunt.

Nam went to a primary school at times, where he studied with older students. However, the boy got bored with learning there, after being able to read all the words in the notice papers and streamers there.

“As I can read already, I do not want to learn any more,” Nam said.

NLD