LOS ANGELES - The one thing 14-year-old Moshe Kai Cavalin dislikes is being called a genius.
All he did, after all, was enroll in college at age 8 and earn his first
of two Associate of Arts degrees from East Los Angeles Community
College in 2009 at age 11, graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade point
average.
Now, at 14, he's poised to graduate from UCLA this year. He's also just
published an English edition of his first book, "We Can Do."
The 100-page guideline explains how other young people can accomplish
what Cavalin did through such simple acts as keeping themselves focused
and approaching everything with total commitment. He's hoping it will
show people there's no genius involved, just hard work.
"That's always the question that bothers me," Cavalin, who turned 14 on
Valentine's Day, says when the G-word is raised. "People need to know
you don't really need to be a genius. You just have to work hard and you
can accomplish anything."
And maybe cut out some of the TV.
Although he's a big fan of Jackie Chan movies, Cavalin says he limits his television time to four hours a week.
Not that he lacks for recreational activities or feels that his parents
pressured him into studying constantly. He writes in "We Can Do" of
learning to scuba dive, and he loves soccer and martial arts. He used to
participate in the latter sport when he was younger, winning trophies
for his age group, until his UCLA studies and his writing made things a
little too hectic.
Indeed one of the key messages of his book is to stay focused and to not take on any endeavor half-heartedly.
"I was able to reach the stars, but others can reach the `Milky Way," he tells readers.
It was a professor at his first institution of higher learning, East Los
Angeles City College, who inspired him, Cavalin says. He didn't like
the subject but managed to get an A in it anyway, by applying himself
and seeing how enthusiastic his teacher, Richard Avila, was about the
subject.
Avila, he says, inspired him to write a book explaining his methods for success so he could motivate others.
It took four years to finish, in part because Cavalin, whose mother is
Chinese, decided to publish it in Chinese, and doing the translation
himself was laborious.
Han Shian Culture Publishing of Taiwan put the book in print, and it did
well in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, as well in several bookstores
in Southern California's Asian communities. He then brought it out in
English for the U.S. market.
Because of his heavy study load, Cavalin has had little opportunity to
promote the book, other than a signing at UCLA, where he also lives in
student housing with his parents and attends the school on a
scholarship.
After earning his bachelor's degree, the math major plans to enroll in
graduate school with hopes of eventually earning a doctorate.
After that, he's not so sure. He points out that he's still just barely a teenager.
"Who knows?" he says, chuckling at the thought of what lies ahead in
adulthood. "That's a very distant future, and I'm pretty much planning
for just the next few years. That's too far into the future for me to
see."
By JOHN ROGERS Associated Press
2012-02-15T17:41:31+0000 GMT
Quoting: "The 100-page guideline explains how other young people can accomplish
what Cavalin did through such simple acts as keeping themselves focused
and approaching everything with total commitment. He's hoping it will
show people there's no genius involved, just hard work.
"That's always the question that bothers me," Cavalin, who turned 14 on
Valentine's Day, says when the G-word is raised. "People need to know
you don't really need to be a genius. You just have to work hard and you
can accomplish anything."
***
This rubs me the wrong way. I don't think he is helping kids at all with this, and his speech here minimizes gifted children, imo.
I don't believe "you just have to work hard and you can accomplish anything." Some people just don't have the brain power, and enthusiasm and hard work won't make up for that...pure and simple.
The fact that is mother is Chinese explains a lot. This reminds me of the book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" I don't have any doubt that this kid is obviously gifted since he has accomplished so much. However I'm pretty sure that had he had a different set of parents he would have accomplished much less despite his "genius"
Quoting Christine100700:
Emily, that simply isn't true. While we'd like to think that just putting hard work into something gives you the ability to accomplish it but while that may be true in more simplistic goals, others hard work just isn't going to cut it. People don't like to hear it but not everyone is equal in talent, ability, or intelligence.
I think this is where the statement, "can accomplish anything", is interpreted differently. Like Christine, I take it absolutely literally, where you seem to qualify it with "choosing a goal within their abilities."
Maybe that's splitting hairs? LoL
Either way, we all know hard work and pushing oneself beyond what one thinks they can accomplish often can produce results. I just don't believe it always produces results.
Quoting emilyrosenj:
It's Margaret and yes it is true. Your making it very definitive, but most reasonable people will choose a goal within their abilities. Given that framework, what they want to be, what they want to do is within their reach with HARD WORK. I knew I would never be a doctor, I didn't like biology and I don't like the sight of blood and I didn't want to go to college that long. But that didn't stop me from achieving other things through hard work.
Quoting Christine100700:
Emily, that simply isn't true. While we'd like to think that just putting hard work into something gives you the ability to accomplish it but while that may be true in more simplistic goals, others hard work just isn't going to cut it. People don't like to hear it but not everyone is equal in talent, ability, or intelligence.
Speaks for Itself
- Ametrine
on Feb. 16, 2012 at 1:54 PM