A year later, the Chicago Tribune Magazine checks in on Yano, and while I'm generally opposed to advancing kids this far beyond their years, a fellow prodigy makes a good point:
Balamurali Ambati graduated from high school at 11, earned his bachelor's degree in biology from New York University at 13, graduated from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York at 17 and went on to a residency at Harvard in ophthalmology. He's still listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest person ever to become a doctor.
As in Sho's case, Ambati and his parents were harshly criticized all along the way. "The hardest part about it was convincing people to let me do it," he says. "There was a lot of administrative inertia. A lot of people didn't want this to happen . . . . When people win an Olympic gold medal at 14, they're celebrated," he observes. "But excellence in academics unfortunately is not valued."
Meanwhile, other former prodigies quoted in the article have used their talents towards other ends.
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