This is why you don't home school your spawn

[Connonym]

they know how to spell but they have no social skills whatsoever Mommy must be proud of her budding little asshole.

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2007/06/05/unemployment-check-this-is-my-fave-unemployment-check-of-all-time/

[AlCzervik]

1. yikes. i love that best week ever, i only wish it were an hour long.

[idgiehkt]

2. roflmao

:rofl:

[Reverend_Smitty]

3. wow!

:wow: I don't think I've ever seen anybody with so few social skills...the problem is, if he is put in a general population aka public school...he'd be eaten alive

[Connonym]

4. Can you imagine once he's in the work place?

Maybe I'm being unfair and perhaps he's home schooled because of his personality but I wonder if his lack of social skills is because he never had the opportunity to interact with other kids.

[hyphenate]

5. That was painful to watch

It looks to me like he's got Aspergers Syndrome. I could be wrong, but he doesn't seem to be able to pick up on non-verbal cues--or verbal ones, either for that matter. But some of the main symptoms of Aspergers seem to be present.

[Connonym]

6. I never thought of that

I feel bad for making fun of him

[idgiehkt]

7. I thought about that

literal interpretation of the question about 'what did your mother say' is a big clue, not knowing how to make 'small talk' about it. But all in all it is still hysterical to watch the reporter squirm like that, lol.

[XemaSab]

12. Most Aspie's are socialized enough to be able to come off a little better than that

This kid man... wow, just wow.

[Midlodemocrat]

23. That's not always true.

Especially since he wasn't in the room with the anchor and couldn't pick up any visual or body language cues.

[Zuiderelle]

29. I don't know abouot that. He really didn't seem that bad to me.

It was a bit funny in a way, but he could very easily have asperger's magnified by the fact that he's home-schooled and has little interaction with others that are not in his family. Must be very hard to be put on the spot in a live interview for anyone, especially someone as young as that.

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. You'd think a producer would've screened the kid

to prevent embarrassment all around.

I feel badly for everyone involved — except the producer.

[murielm99]

9. I used to see home-schooled

kids all the time when I worked at our community college. They came there for GEDs or associate degrees. The vast majority of them had no social skills. And the vast majority of them did not qualify for a GED on first testing. Many of them did not know how to act in a test environment, or how to take a test.

When they started taking general classes, or using the fitness center, I could pick them out almost every time.

My two youngest kids won the bee for their schools, and went on to the county-wide bee. When my son was in it, one of the winners was a kid who was an aspie. He had and adult standing with him, to be sure he did not get flustered in such a confusing setting. The kid did very well in the bee.

I know people homeschool their kids for a variety of reasons. Prepare for flames, because the overprotective ones are going to come after you.

Maybe this kid is an aspie. However, he is much like the eighteen year olds I would see every year for testing.

[murielm99]

10. I'd like to add

that I raised three little nerds. They grew up just fine.

We had a kid in our community who is a math genius, and I don't use the term lightly. When he went to college, they devised an independent study program for him, because he already knew every kind of math that existed. He is in grad school now.

He has been a close friend of my kids for a long time. He wasn't just good in math. He went to the state level in the geography bee. Two of my kids won that, but never qualified for state. My son went on with him to state Mathcounts competition a couple of times, but he never went national.

This boy won the national Mathcounts competition when he was a seventh grader. The teacher who coached him gave him a trig book, and he learned it in one week. (Our local Mathcounts chapter has a "Joe Smith" rule, named after this kid. The rule is that the reader has to finish the question before anyone can raise their hand to answer. This kid always knew the answer before the question was finished).

This kid was more cheerful and articulate than the boy in the clip, but he was still a classic nerd at that time. He was such a whiz kid that he got offers to appear on Leno, Letterman, and a few other things. He was being raised by a single father who was often out of it in his own nerdy way.

When we heard about the offers, we said, "Oh no. They will make fun of him."

The teacher talked to the dad, and they agreed to turn down all offers. It really was for the best.

Maybe the spelling champion in this clip does better in less challenging situations. We could be misjudging him.

[VenusRising]

11. Here is a video of him on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Jimmy is messing with him hardcore and his parents are laughing their butts off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6iwD4PI47c

[Midlodemocrat]

13. At the risk of 'Fristing' that kid, I vote for Asperger's.

The fact that he couldn't see the anchor and pick up any body cues whatsoever and was forced to rely just on verbal ones pretty much seals it for me.

[mainegreen]

14. Wow. Painful. n/t

[matcom]

15. we have a home-schooled kid up the street

same thing. ZERO social skills.

his mother had about 100 of them at last count :eyes:

every year she has the brood paint her house.

lovely.

[LostinVA]

16. What does the kid say?

I don't have speakers.

[Deep13]

17. No sound card.

I'll watch later at home, but maybe you can give me a few words on what the kid is saying. The facial expressions are pretty clear. :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. I don't think it's a home-schooling problem - he's autistic, or apserger's

He has a mental problem, not so much a social problem (though clearly he has a social problem, it's not his fault, nor is it necessarily the fault of his home schooling).

I think that to take a clip like this - of a kid's life, out of context - and use it to trash all home-schooling is a negligent, dishonest, and disingenuous.

[Sock Puppet]

20. I heartily agree with you, rabrrrrrr.

:applause:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

24. yeah..and he's really too young for us to sit around mocking

and predicting his future failures.

[Gormy Cuss]

34. Exactly.

FWIW, this kid lives a few towns south of me and he always comes across in interviews as socially inept but he lives and breathes advanced math and music. There is no way to predict what this child will achieve.

on edit: the only thing that puzzle me is that the kid doesn't seem that enamored of spelling yet the bee has been one of his main events for several years.

[BarenakedLady]

19. It's not a matter of homeschooling

He obviously has other issues, which is probably why the parents decided to homeschool. Not the other way around.

[crim son]

21. Jeebus.

I had to click away when he said, "You'll have to ask my mom if you want the answer to that..."
This poor kid is positive proof that intelligence isn't everything (although it's helpful in a president).

[elehhhhna]

22. LMAO I have a cousin who's a bit of a "rainman"--some sort of autism--

who this kid reminds me of. No guile. Pure person.

Sweet.

[leftofthedial]

25. what a little turd

[jobycom]

26. Man, tough crowd, beating up on an 11 year old. I'd be proud of him if he were mine.

He's a bit awkward, probably a bit stage-frightened, but seemed like a nice enough kid. A little overly cautious. I've known public school kids who were worse. I've known a lot of home schooled kids who were fine.

Must be "Beat up on kids" Day. The Air America morning guy, whom I've decided I can't stand, was ragging on some eight year old girl this morning. What's up, did we pass through some zombie comet tail last night? :shrug:

[coffeenap]

27. Did you ever consider that the reason they are homeschooling

is that he has problems that could not be adequately addressed in school? Do you think perhaps spelling is his area of strength so his parents are proud that he can compete? Your assumptions are hurtful and show that there are areas of human development you don't understand. (I get so ANGRY at people who paint home schooling with such a broad brush, especially in the era of *'s cuts to all things helpful to individuals in our society. That kid would be beaten up every single day in school--would you want that for your kid? What alternative would you choose if he was yours? Force him to become a "man" by facing the ridicule and violence that would obviously ensue?)

[rug]

28. There's not a thing malicious or snotty about that kid.

Whether he's awkward or not, he took the interview at face value and was not in the least disrespectful.

[Akoto]

30. I was home schooled for the last few years of HS.

Had to do it for medical reasons. Actually, it worked out a lot better for me. I maintained friendships in other ways, while distancing myself from the social cliques and (frankly) violence of my former public school. I really enjoyed being able to learn in a more mature environment, as was reflected by a drastic improvement in my grades.

As it turns out, I went into a career that involves working heavily with people!

[mzteris]

31. um - excuse me?

A little overgeneralizing, don't you think?

Besides, quite a few kids are hs'ed BECAUSE they are - shall we say 'challenged' - in the social skills department.

Can you spell ASPERGER's?



Not cool, Connynym. Not cool at all. There are a number of DU'ers who hs their kids. There's a hs group on here - why don't you come by and get to know us before you make a blanket generalization about hs'ers.

DU's own AVA is HOMESCHOOLED in case you didn't know.

[Connonym]

36. I can honestly say that it never occurred to me (as I posted above)

that it could be something like that because it's not something in my frame of reference. I don't know anyone with Aspergers and I'm not familiar with it. Not that that's a good excuse but it wasn't an intentional slam on kids with Aspergers, it was ignorance to the situation.

And sorry to any homeschoolers I may have offended with my comment -- I shouldn't mentally categorize home schoolers as Freepers. I apologize to anyone I offended. I intended no malice.

I am truly sorry if I offended anyone with my ignorance.

[mzteris]

37. Thank you for your gracious apology.

I appreciate it.

I know a lot of people automatically think "fundie freeper" when they hear homeschooled - but that's just not true.

In addition to the hs forum on here, there's also an Asperger forum. Oh - and you do "know" some aspies - because there's definitely more than one on DU. :hi:

[helderheid]

32. GOD that hurt!

[Madrone]

33. What?

Sometimes DU and it's collective interpretations confuse the hell out of me.

I thought the kid was polite, if a little "nerdy." Nothing wrong with that at all.

Now, if he'd called the woman "stupid" for mispronouncing the word, and been a little arrogant prick like, say, little public-schooled from the suburbs "Madison" --- then I'd think he was an asshole.

:shrug:

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

35. I think he very well may have a disorder

Which explains is behavior, but doesn't make the interview any less awkward.

[rockymountaindem]

38. I doubt that kid would have any better social skills coming from a public school

He'd likely be worse off for being called a nerd all the time, laughed at by his peers for being "too smart" and potentially beaten up and/or robbed by bullies.

Having graduated from high school four years ago and having just graduated from college, I've known homeschool kids who were just fine, and kids who went to public school their whole lives and still couldn't get along with *anybody*. Generalizations won't get you anywhere. As far as his snippy attitude goes, he just won the biggest competition of his life. If somebody won the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup you wouldn't expect them to be particularly humble. Furthermore, you wouldn't blast somebody in that position telling the ESPN guy "I'm the man!" for having been poorly brought up or something similar. That's just the way it goes.

Speaking more to the point, as someone who is/was quite active in the competative team trivia realm and managed to put my school's name on "the trophy" three times in addition to other championships, I can tell you that there's something a little odd about most of the people involved in these kind of academic competitions. Of course, I don't exclude myself from that, but there are some people who just get so far into the zone when they're doing or talking about trivia, debate, spelling or what have you that they become completely different people. That's just the kind of people that these events attract. Having played on my high school tennis team, I noticed that when athletes are trying to show of, they flash physical skill. Guys took their shirts off so much to brag about their abs it was rediculous (especially whenever the girls CC team ran by). OTOH, when "the nerds" want to show off they have to do it with their brains.

[chaska]

39. I've changed my views about home schooling...

I think school turns you into an obedient robot.

School must die.