Homeschooler Wins Scripps National Spelling Bee

VirginiaHuguenot · #1 (**permalink**) 06-01-2007, 07:36 AM

Californian wins spelling bee with 'serrefine' (May 31, 2007)

Devin · #2 (**permalink**) 06-01-2007, 12:39 PM

Well, I think we all know what this means:

Our public school system needs more money.

(that's a joke, btw)

Theoretical · #3 (**permalink**) 06-01-2007, 12:49 PM

So true.

Nice to see yet another homeschooler win one of these.

VirginiaHuguenot · #4 (**permalink**) 06-01-2007, 12:50 PM

Yep, it's time for a tax hike!

3John2 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-30-2007, 04:32 PM

The kid is obviously bright but has NO social skills WHATSOEVER! Very sad. I saw a few interviews with him & that boy appears to be headed for a hard life if he doesn't learn to socialize. I guess that's a negative for his homeschooling.

Scott · #6 (**permalink**) 07-30-2007, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3John2

The kid is obviously bright but has NO social skills WHATSOEVER! Very sad. I saw a few interviews with him & that boy appears to be headed for a hard life if he doesn't learn to socialize. I guess that's a negative for his homeschooling.

I know one or two public school students who are not that well socialized too. I would not be too hard on the child. Giving a national interview is hard on anyone, including public-school educated adults. If someone said I had to spend an evening with one of two teenagers and the only information I had about them was that one was public school and one was homeschooled, I would choose the homeschooled every time. Homeschooling is a much better vehicle for socialization than public schools.

3John2 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-30-2007, 09:58 PM

I'm definately planning on homeschooling mine I'm just saying the KID has a SERIOUS personality problem. I think he might actually be sick? Maybe autistic or something?

Ambrose · #8 (**permalink**) 07-30-2007, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3John2

The kid is obviously bright but has NO social skills WHATSOEVER! Very sad. I saw a few interviews with him & that boy appears to be headed for a hard life if he doesn't learn to socialize. I guess that's a negative for his homeschooling.

...Said Thomas Edison's schoolteacher before his mother decided to homeschool him.

That's really a ridiculous non-sequiter.

My teachers in public school always told me "YOU"RE NOT HERE TO SOCIALIZE!"

The key to not having a "hard life" is neither intellectual nor social but spiritual. But then I have never been a social butterfly despite much socialization, and my life hasn't seemed easy so I am no one to give advice.

Perhaps he is a touch autistic, a linguistic savant, severely introverted, or just plain socially inept... that happens to homeschoolers for sure sometimes, but also to institutionalized children. Ever heard an interview with an NBA player?

Davidius · #9 (**permalink**) 07-30-2007, 11:52 PM

If being able to socialize means having a personality like most of the other students who were in my public high school, then I certainly don't want my children to have this ability. 90% of the students at my school were the rudest, most rebellious, foul-mouthed, intellectually dead people one could find. And I'm pretty sure that this is not an isolated phenomenon for public high schools.

Philbeck · #10 (**permalink**) 07-30-2007, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarolinaCalvinist

If being able to socialize means having a personality like most of the other students who were in my public high school, then I certainly don't want my children to have this ability. 90% of the students at my school were the rudest, most rebellious, foul-mouthed, intellectually dead people one could find. And I'm pretty sure that this is not an isolated phenomenon for public high schools.

David,

What school did you go to? You just described my public high school. Were we classmates?

Scott · #11 (**permalink**) 07-31-2007, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3John2

I'm definately planning on homeschooling mine I'm just saying the KID has a SERIOUS personality problem. I think he might actually be sick? Maybe autistic or something?

I see; I did not catch any of the interviews. I hope everything is ok with him. And national interviews are a lot of pressure for anyone.

Blue Tick · #12 (**permalink**) 07-31-2007, 08:53 AM

Is the link still around for the interview?

toddpedlar · #13 (**permalink**) 07-31-2007, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3John2

The kid is obviously bright but has NO social skills WHATSOEVER! Very sad. I saw a few interviews with him & that boy appears to be headed for a hard life if he doesn't learn to socialize. I guess that's a negative for his homeschooling.

Such a kid would very likely be just as maladjusted and asocial as he is wherever he was schooled. Public schooling has far more (imo) negative consequences socially than it has positives. It seems to be a common (mistaken) opinion that everybody has some innate ability to be equally sociable, just as many think that all kids have the same innate ability with regard to intelligence and aptitude for high-level academic work.

3John2 · #14 (**permalink**) 07-31-2007, 10:22 AM

I saw SEVERAL interviews with him on youtube. I have always been fascinated with the spelling bee (nerD!) since I was a kid. I even saw the movie "Spellbound" which is a documentary about the 97 spelling bee. Great movie!!! Anyways I look up the interviews with the kid & man he has got problems!!! The kid is VERy musical though I must say. As a pro musician I can say at his age he is WAY smart. But man what a dork!! I'm definately planning on homeschooling my kids but I don't foresee them being anti social.
By the way there is one interview on national tv where a lady mispronounces his name....it's very funny. I think the lady wanted to kill him afterwards!! She was not too bright. But the kid is just weird.

Answerman · #15 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarolinaCalvinist

If being able to socialize means having a personality like most of the other students who were in my public high school, then I certainly don't want my children to have this ability. 90% of the students at my school were the rudest, most rebellious, foul-mouthed, intellectually dead people one could find. And I'm pretty sure that this is not an isolated phenomenon for public high schools.

This is exactly the point, I think it better that Christian children have some Christian attributes, like humility and slow to speak (meaning- thinking before speaking) that may be interpreted as "unsocial" by the worlds standards than to be able to "fit-in" with a God-hating culture. I think that Christians that have bought into the worlds way of seeing things are responsible for the current emergent church movement that says don't change the way you think or act, just come and stay as you are.

Besides, I haven't found any verse where God commands, "thou shalt socialize thy children." Don't get me wrong, I think that if Christian parents have a good work ethic and have good leaders informing them of Biblical principles, you will get children that have undeniable social skills. Though our activities and ethics may be different and therefore we may be considered “unsocial” in this regard, our ability to communicate ought to demonstrate that we are more social (our ability to communicate with clarity, cogency and profundity) than our unbelieving counterparts. Peter addressed the way in which we will be viewed in 1 Peter 4:4, they will think it strange that we don’t run with them into the same dissipation that they run to. So being anti-social in this sense is a good thing.

3John2 · #16 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 10:19 PM

I agree with all that but that doesn't change the fact that kid is weird.

MeanieCalvinist · #17 (**permalink**) 08-02-2007, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philbeck

David,

What school did you go to? You just described my public high school. Were we classmates?

I am always reminded of God's longsuffering, mercy and grace when I think about it.