Is this the intellectual equivalent of child beauty pageants?

[Bubbles]

As nice as it is to have bright children, as much as very pretty children, is it still a form of child exploitation to make them perform like this?

Can it be just as harmful?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36963260

Personally I think so.

What do you think?

Different to beauty pageants for children? Or the same?

Using their intellectual side, rather than their physical attributes.



🌹

[Jack Knave]

These things are more about the inferiority complex of the parents and their need to boost their egos and show off. Ergo they are wrong and usually do more harm than good for the child.

[Brownie]

I've seen some of these programmes and was of the same opinion as Rose but, having watched the children and parents, the children appeared to really want to compete, they enjoyed the learning and the parents were generally the ones who were a bit concerned about it all.  These were exceptionally bright children who were well able to speak for themselves.
It appeared that, if a child was worried or stressed in any way, their parents would say, "Enough is enough", and pull them out.

It's difficult to really assess from just watching a TV programme but that is how it seemed to me.  They were quite a nice lot of families actually.

Not the same as beauty pageants which has little to do with talent and extremely superficial.  It's unwholesome to see the sweet little girls made up and coiffured like mini drag artists and the whole thing must be draining.  I'm sure some little ones like it and want to do it, as far as a young child can make that sort of decision, but being on that sort of circuit and having to maintain such a high level of poise and facade must take its toll.

[L.A.]

As nice as it is to have bright children, as much as very pretty children, is it still a form of child exploitation to make them perform like this?

Can it be just as harmful?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36963260

Personally I think so.

What do you think?

Different to beauty pageants for children? Or the same?

Using their intellectual side, rather than their physical attributes.



🌹

I suppose there are two issues here. If the child's answer actually was correct, then the mother was quite in order to point that out,  but whether a ten year old should be put into such a high-stress situation is another question - I would say not.

[Sassy]

As nice as it is to have bright children, as much as very pretty children, is it still a form of child exploitation to make them perform like this?

Can it be just as harmful?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36963260

Personally I think so.

What do you think?

Different to beauty pageants for children? Or the same?

Using their intellectual side, rather than their physical attributes.



🌹

There should have been no change.
The girl should not have gone through she did not answer her question correctly. If as you say intellectual then why didn't she know the answer to a general question?

Smacks of cheating...

[floo]

Children should not be subjected to that sort of oneupmanship.

We were very keen that our children did well in their studies, but no way in a million years would we have permitted them to take part in something, which could undermine their confidence.

[Brownie]

Coming second is a good result, the girl did well without the controversy over this particular question.  Everyone has to learn that, no matter how good they are, they are not always going to be the winner and there is a next time.

Mum sounds like a bad loser but she could have been right about the question, the judges did change their minds after all - but it doesn't seem right somehow.

That was only one mother though, they weren't all like that on the programme.

[Brownie]

I watched the programme in question yesterday and, regardless of how any of us feel about pushy parents etc, the question asked had more than one correct answer and the girl gave a correct answer even though it wasn't the one the adjudicators had in front of them at the time.  So in this instance her mother was absolutely right to bring it to their attention - and they agreed. The girl answered other questions incorrectly (as did all candidates), and she didn't dispute those.