Boris claimed that his methods of child-rearing were responsible for his son’s abilities and took his story to the press. The press, in turn, focused more on the young Harvard student’s odd personal life than on his accomplishments. It was soon clear that Billy was unprepared to relate to other people, function successfully in the real world, or manage the challenges of being different. After college, he lived an isolated life. Despite his intelligence, he died unemployed and in poverty.
When people are unusual, they attract attention. In the case of child prodigies, the attention they receive is both positive and negative. It is positive because most people admire intelligence. It is negative because prodigies are very different from other people. They are a challenge for teachers, who expect seven-year-olds to prefer Batman to Beethoven. They are a challenge for parents, who want to help them but often lack of the resources or find their needs and desires difficult to understand and meet. They present a challenge to scientists, who want to study them without further isolating them from normal society. And they challenge the world because they reveal the tendency that people have to reject those who are different from the norm.