SBS’s Child Genius quiz show is wrapping up its first season with a big finale tonight – and we debate it in great detail in the latest episode of WHO’s TV podcast, Binge List.
This show has been a calculated punch back at Australia’s notorious anti-intellectualism – a problem that’s not only rampant in the schoolyard. Indeed, there’s a very telling comment early on in this about how Australia needs to start venerating academic achievement in the same way that it does sport.
I’m not going to spoil anything, but that’s a theme we revisit with some poignancy later.
It’s made obvious that some of these kids have been excluded for being different. Perhaps if they’d swum up and down a pool really fast for hours on end, gulping chlorine rather than knowledge, they’d get more respect in wider Australian society.
Susan Carland is great here as the host; she has gravity as an educator but also has a lot of warmth towards the children that takes some of the edge off the intense competitiveness.
Some of the parents are interesting viewing in themselves; one mum is convinced her child’s stunning intellect is the result her apparently fantastic parenting, while another storms the stage to question an outcome.
There’s a great nail-biting finale between two very gifted kids, and the so-called ‘loser’ handles it excellently, which I found very touching. Clearly that kid is a real winner too, with an attitude that is going to stand them in very good stead well into the future.
The journey of the winner, who has suffered for not fitting the expected mould, was quite powerful.
Let’s hope shows like this help to make some cultural changes and help Australians evolve in their attitudes. There is, after all, more to life than kicking a football.
This was a great show and I hope it returns next year.
