96 Replies to “S-C-O-M-B-R-I-D-A-E (Corrected)”

  3. Gussie,
    My thoughts exactly! As we can see, though, one is homeschooled and t’other was CNN schooled…..
    Vitruvius,
    ‘Sam’ had many great expressions…

  5. That’s such a cliche, Gussie.
    If you take even five seconds to think about it, you’ll know that the average public school “graduate” is a tactless, lazy, selfish clod, while homeschoolers are polite and thoughtful.
    Just think of anyone you’ve met under 30. Nuff said.
    Besides, “socialization” is over rated. Einstein was not a team player. Neither was Picasso. Neither are most geniuses.
    “Socialization” is a good way to breed future con men and their marks, not to mention cogs in society’s wheel.
    We need more people who know how to get along without others, not WITH them.

  6. That said: spelling bees aren’t a sign of intelligence.
    Most spelling bee champs don’t know the meaning of the words they memorize. They just memorize a series of letters but their vocabularies aren’t very impressive. It isn’t like any of them grow up to be Nabakov.
    It is like memorizing the numbers in the phone book and then calling yourself a mathematician.
    Obama is the “spelling bee champ” of Presidents: earnest, generally humorless, plodding, not as smart as he and others think he is.
    Irshad Manji has that quality as well. It goes from appealing to off-putting with amazing speed.

  8. Kathy, I consider myself to be an “average public school graduate” and those aren’t the adjectives I would use to describe myself or my peers, even after six or seven seconds worth of consideration and deliberation. Einstein and Picasso may have been redeemed by their genius but I wouldn’t want to have to share a sidewalk filled with them.

  9. I will admit that the boy was sorely lacking in social skills but as was mentioned, some public school kids are no better. If parents do not teach children manners, morals, values or social graces, the kid will always stick out like a sore thumb. I babysat home-schooled kids and they were quite personable. I’ve taught public school kids and all they can think about is their cell phones, Guitar Hero and whatever sport their parent(s) are pushing them to take (my sister could tell you stories of high school ineptness that would make you vomit). And each kid is different. Some kids are just introverts. There is no set standard sometimes.
    Just my thoughts.

  10. At first appearances – yes he sounds awkward, but really- the kid is actually thinking before he speaks. He was not being led by the nose for answers by the ignorant talking head from CNN.

  11. “We need more people who know how to get along without others, not with them”.
    I’m hoping the intent was to suggest a more independent thinking person (as in “not a sheep”) as opposed to one who would suffer self-imposed ostracism ( similar to the choice of “socialization” to express Gussie’s thought…I knew what was meant).

  12. Bang on Mortimer – he’s not a drone, he has been taught to think for himself and to speak out against error. Let’s give the kid a break: being featured on national TV gets most people nervous, never mind kids busting through puberty. I think he did a smashing job.

  17. I’ve been around close to 60 years and have never ever heard that word before. When or where did they actually use that word? Vit – any idea?

  18. “Scombridae is the family of the mackerels, tunas, and bonitos, and thus includes many of the most important and familiar food fishes. The family consists of about 55 species in 15 genera and two subfamilies.”
    “Upon winning the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee, champion Evan M. O’Dorney appeared on CNN with Kiran Chetry. Chetry challenged the boy to spell the word “Scombridae,” and O’Dorney failed in his attempt, citing a supposed mispronunciation as cause of his failure. Since then, the video has surfaced online, becoming something of an internet fad and introducing the word Scombridae into mainstream vernacular.”
    From wiki

  19. Kate,
    Is this what you’ve been waiting for:
    Shouldn’t it be spelled with an “e” on the end (ask Dan Quayle) as in : S-C-O-M-B-R-I-D-A-E ??
    Garry

  20. Gussie, the good news is that since you are an average public school grad who spouts unexamined cliches, Picasso doesn’t want to share a sidewalk with you either!

  22. “Shouldn’t it be spelled with an “e” on the end (ask Dan Quayle) as in : S-C-O-M-B-R-I-D-A-E ??”
    Apparently, I’m too clever by half.
    I’d cut that kid some slack. If you’ve ever been interviewed by TV remote, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to stare into a bright light and camera, while answering disembodied questions coming at you from an ear plug.

  23. I’ve been around close to 60 years and have never ever heard that word before. When or where did they actually use that word? Vit – any idea?
    You haven’t heard it, because the only way you would hear it, is if you were a student of fish taxonomy, or a fisheries biologist. Its a scientific classification, and its not English, its Latin (from early Greek), and the word is Scombridae – pronounced scom – brih – dee
    The word dates from 1623 – “scombre” is a “tunny or mackerel”, and more than one are “scombri” Its only apparently modern use is in mackerel taxonomy.

  24. Kate,
    Most agree on your comment. Those that don’t…….send them a EMD picture (autographed…of course).

  25. I don’t know. Something in me was rooting for this dork of a kid vs the MSM. (Like you, Kathy, I thought, uh huh, probably Aspergers.)
    Yeah, I can see the blinkers on him but, hey, what’s he missing if he doesn’t go to public school and isn’t impressed that he’s on CNN? I’m with you, Kathy: Socialization, Shmocialiation. Big deal; too many “socialized” kids in our schools are brazen, undisciplined, entitled, herd-mentality, sheeple. ‘We want that for Evan — or any of our kids?
    I wish more people would question the talking heads more closely. Way to go, Evan O’Dorney.
    Post Script: Maybe CNN should have asked Evan to spell A-S-P-E-R-G-E-R-S. When I first spelled it “Aspurgers,” my Spell Check went berserk:
    As purgers
    Purgers
    Vegeburgers (huh?)
    Beefburgers
    Spurge

  26. While it is not always the case, many home-schooled children stick out like a sore thumb in University and the work force because they are socially very different than their peers. The reason for this is simple, most schools force students to conform to the social norms of the school for fear of reprisals from their teachers or fellow students; and these students are put in a highly social situation for a large portion of their day, for a large portion of the year, and a large portion of their life.
    This doesn’t mean that their education is worse, but this is often one of the side-effects of home-schooling; and someone who home schools their children should find ways to ensure that their children interact with other children for a couple of hours (pretty much) every day. Even something as simple as having the child play an organized sport can make the difference from a child being the weird guy in the office who has difficulty making friends.

  28. Based on one micro-interview on TV, which is nerve-wracking enough for most adults, how can anyone presume to know so much about the boy?
    “A man of few words. But when he utters them, he spells them correctly.” Now that’s a neat trick

  29. “Even something as simple as having the child play an organized sport can make the difference from a child being the weird guy in the office who has difficulty making friends.”
    The weird guy in your office wasn’t homeschooled.

  30. Ramon Daley,
    It’s all because of that old saying…” a word is worth a thousand pictures”…and I’ve learned a new word today!
    Kate’s 12:01 posting says it all!

  32. kdl,
    We were all “homeschooled”. Some just had better ‘teachers’ than others. And the report card doesn’t appear ’til we’ve breathed our last breath……

  33. A pet peeve of mine is how literally childish – exactly like 12-year-olds – so many people in their early and mid-twenties are.
    Herding a bunch of adolescents together for years and shielding them from any real responsibility or significant adult contact is a very useless method of “socialization”.
    You may also have noticed that they don’t actually teach anything in public school.

  34. Well, I’m sure Osumashi Kinyobe gave it a good shot, but you know what I mean; the standards are abysmal.
    And Aspergers-tending kids need to be shielded from public schools; that boy would be eaten alive.

  35. I killed it right after the kid corredted TV Babe on his name. Jeeze. Ten wasted seconds I’ll never get back.
    My question, why do TV types insist on putting little kids on TV? Its friggin’ idiotic. Of COURSE the kids don’t take it seriously, and the resulting clip is painful to watch. If I want painful I’ll whack my thumb with a hammer.
    Kids on the “news”. One more reason I’m SO happy I shut off the cable service.

  36. No-one said: “Even something as simple as having the child play an organized sport can make the difference from a child being the weird guy in the office who has difficulty making friends.”
    I am the “weird” guy at the office, no-one. It ain’t the home schooling, its the total lack of tolerance most people have for anyone the least bit different that they are. The top of my head is a little peened over from 48 years of people trying to bash my squareness into the acceptable round hole.
    Oddly, I’m not eager to make friends with the clowns holding the hammer.
    That’s why I like the trades. Conformity isn’t required, just results.

  37. I fail to see the ‘smart-ass’ in him.
    He answered the questions.
    So what if the talking head squirmed.
    Best part…”I dunno…ask my Mom…”
    And he looks like he would be ‘socially awkward’ in any setting.Can’t blame homeschooling.
    He’s an individual.Not a cookie cutter kid. That’s a good thing.

  38. Phantom—you the man….
    Nothing really surprises me or disappoints me….just people…..
    One of my associates recently retired…a drill instructor….comments that once(30 years past) the recruits were adults…now the problem is to create adults from the children who show up…

  39. I think it’s great that this kid is home schooled. Because if he went to any public school that I attended, he would be beaten up frequently.

  40. Yup, Evan O’Dorney wouldn’t have a chance of being “socialized” in a public school. As others have pointed out, he’d be eaten alive.
    GR-8, eh? Forget “tolerance,” “openness,” “diversity,” or kindness in the classroom, school halls, and playground. They don’t exist in the public system. You’d better conform to the bullies’ agenda … or else.

  42. “You may also have noticed that they don’t actually teach anything in public school.
    Posted by: Black Mamba at August 30, 2009 1:09 PM ”
    Soooooo right,BM. And it has been happening for years. Remember when “phonetics” came out to help teach kids to spell? Wonderful,that was. Not only upon graduation from GR 12 did my oldest step daughter NOT know how to spell,she didn’t even know the difference between “to”,”too”, and “two”. A little home schooling fixed that,though(and a very runny brownie recipe when she thought “too” meant “two” cups of water).And for God’s sake, DO NOT ask anyone under 35 to subtract without a calculator or till to tell them the result!

  43. I can accept that spelling can sometimes be a fluid thing, but there are some particular confusions that irk me – loose/lose, and it’s/its.
    Interviewing potential exec admin assistants, I asked what the difference was between “its” and “it’s” was.
    Only 10% had a clue, many said there was no such word as “its”.

  44. Erik Larsen: “Only 10% had a clue, many said there was no such word as “its”.”
    It’s epidemic, and really difficult to teach a second language to these dolts because they don’t even know their own language.

  45. justthinkin – I bought a back-up battery for my alarm the other day – $40 in Alberta – I gave the clerk $42 – she said – “wait let me get the calculator to check that” . . . . . then . . . . “awesome, how did you do that?”. I said my name was Charles Babbage. And so my handwritten receipt reads . . . . .

  46. I write about autism, looks like Aspergers to me. I thought he did great. Very literal thinking there. He wasn’t there with his mom when he won,(being on stage) he probably didn’t count what she said later. I love those guys.

  47. There are many valid points made here.
    Kathy Shaidle said: “Most spelling bee champs don’t know the meaning of the words they memorize.”
    True. When I taught in South Korea, I noticed that some teachers gave their students vocabulary lists of long and difficult words that aren’t always used in everyday conversation. These kids couldn’t tell you the meaning of the words or use them in sentences but could often spell them. This isn’t to say they weren’t intelligent; they were just made to grasp things too advanced.
    Thanks, Garry.
    rg wrote: “When she whipped out the sandwich on a plate — WTF was that all about?!”
    She was hungry.
    Kate wrote: “I’d cut that kid some slack. If you’ve ever been interviewed by TV remote, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to stare into a bright light and camera, while answering disembodied questions coming at you from an ear plug.”
    Indeed.
    NoOne wrote: “While it is not always the case, many home-schooled children stick out like a sore thumb in University and the work force because they are socially very different than their peers. The reason for this is simple, most schools force students to conform to the social norms of the school for fear of reprisals from their teachers or fellow students; and these students are put in a highly social situation for a large portion of their day, for a large portion of the year, and a large portion of their life.”
    That is true. If anything, a child learns how to be a social climber rather than a team player or an individual. We’ve all seen it happen. But (as you mentioned before),these home-schooled kids aren’t isolated entirely. The home-schooled kids I knew had friends in the neighbourhood or swim class. Besides, if the parents aren’t teaching them basic manners and social graces, which school the kid attends doesn’t matter.
    Black Mamba wrote: “Well, I’m sure Osumashi Kinyobe gave it a good shot, but you know what I mean; the standards are abysmal.”
    I did?
    “And Aspergers-tending kids need to be shielded from public schools; that boy would be eaten alive.”
    Definitely. I guess the “tolerance” teaching just isn’t taking in schools.
    Justthinkin wrote: “Soooooo right,BM. And it has been happening for years. Remember when “phonetics” came out to help teach kids to spell? Wonderful,that was. Not only upon graduation from GR 12 did my oldest step daughter NOT know how to spell,she didn’t even know the difference between “to”,”too”, and “two”. A little home schooling fixed that,though(and a very runny brownie recipe when she thought “too” meant “two” cups of water).And for God’s sake, DO NOT ask anyone under 35 to subtract without a calculator or till to tell them the result!”
    You have captured the hell we see in the early years of academia. Parents don’t read to their kids. Teachers are only in it for their two months holiday. No one is allowed to fail students. I expected my Korean students to understand the differences between “there”, “their” and “they’re”. English-speaking Canadian kids? Forget it! It’s not just disgraceful; it’s disheartening.
    And here is a word you may not know: antidisestablishmentarianism.

  48. “This doesn’t mean that their education is worse,”
    Actually it is better
    “Drawing from 15 independent testing services, the Progress Report 2009: Homeschool Academic Achievement and Demographics included 11,739 homeschooled students from all 50 states who took three well-known tests—California Achievement Test, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, and Stanford Achievement Test for the 2007–08 academic year. The Progress Report is the most comprehensive homeschool academic study ever completed.
    The Results
    Overall the study showed significant advances in homeschool academic achievement as well as revealing that issues such as student gender, parents’ education level, and family income had little bearing on the results of homeschooled students.”
    http://www.aipnews.com/talk/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=6999&posts=4

  49. No-One not to be confused with NoOne. Not that I completely disagree with NoOne – it is true that children who are home schooled need to be socialized. No-One decides to change nic to 2cents.

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