16. "He was just plain rude, lacking respect for others, and possessing an obvious need to "build himself up" by putting others down. He also appears incapable of accepting his own imperfections, choosing instead to blame the interviewer for his inability to spell the word."

Everything you said is the exact opposite of the reality. This kid is intelligent, so to stupid people he comes off as "rude".

bill at 2:01PM on Jun 7th 2007

17. This kid appears to be incapable of carrying on a conversation without his mommy holding his hand. Perhaps she should put the dictionary away and focus on more developemental areas, such as independent thinking and self confidence. Where's the practicality in mastering a language if one lacks the social skills to employ it? I hope his mother is proud of him when he spells "lonely" correctly in his suicide note.

Chad at 2:00PM on Jun 7th 2007

18. i'm sorry, it has nothing to do with chetry or evan's homeschooling..he's probably just autistic and his parents gave him a dictionary to read and that's all he knows...it's sad that he can't even communicate with detail on why he didn't have a stupid sub before the competition..this kid just needs some help in every way

luisa at 2:35PM on Jun 10th 2007

19. amen to RANDOLPHO....well put

RADLS at 2:19PM on Jun 7th 2007

20. Bill, you are absolutely correct. He was not rude. He did not take every opportunity to point out what he perceived as mistakes by the interviewer, and he did not assert that if the word had been pronounced correctly there would have been absolutely no chance of him misspelling it. Yes, how could I have been so wrong. I hope you enjoy yourself immensely in that special place that I'd like to refer to as "Your own little world". You, and all your socially inadequate friends are so misunderstood by all of us "stupid" people. Oh, the world would be a better place if we all could just learn to be arrogant, rude, and dysfunctional like you smart people. Then the world could live as one. I need to take a moment and wipe the tears from my eyes.

randolpho at 2:23PM on Jun 7th 2007

21. I feel sorry for home schooled kids. It's really a form of an excessively controlling parent projecting their insecurities on their child--not unlike a frustrated jock, athletics obsessed father.

Rather than allowing their kids to be exposed to the larger world around them and developing all parts of their brains, they place too much emphasis on a relatively unimportant part, like spelling.
Spelling does not reflect true intelligence. Spelling is memorization; computers can do it.
Their parents are raising a generation of frustrated librarians. I'm not impressed.

ventures360 at 2:25PM on Jun 7th 2007

22. It seems like he is listening to her and there might be a delay and so that makes him seem a bit odd. Plus he is very serious about spelling that word. LOL! He wants to get it right so bad. I say, give the kid a break, so what, he is a little eccentric, and none of us are the national spelling bee champ.

Valerie at 2:50PM on Jun 7th 2007

23. After viewing the interview, I am of the opinion that this boy was not being rude, just introverted(for those of you who don't know, that means shy). Yes, home-schooling has obviously impaired this kids social skills, but I'd rather have a kid that behaves like him than some retarded gang-banger from our public schools. Upon reading some of the comments here, it occurs to me that some people are being too hard on the kid out of a sense of inferiority. Fat girls hate skinny girls, ugly people hate beautiful people, and dumb people resent smart people. It didn't help things that the interviewer was Kiran Chetry, who while being deliciously gorgeous, isn't exactly the brightest talking head on t.v. Who leaves FOX to work for the Clinton News Network? What's the rationale for that?

carlton wilson at 3:05PM on Jun 7th 2007

24. ...That was awkward. I think that the kid may have perceived the questions as slightly invasive... Who wants to tell national TV that their mom said "good job, honey" or something equally embarrassing in the eyes of an adolescent? The kid may or may not be introverted. Some people may see rudeness when she says his name incorrectly and he corrects her, but at least now everyone will know how it's really said- which may have been his goal initially.

I don't believe this has anything to do with homeschooling- O'Dorney may just have been tense.

TR at 3:18PM on Jun 7th 2007

25. I certainly don't think he was being rude; it is much more rude to make this exceptional cjhild the subject of ridicule or insult. It is clear he was trying to honestly and literally respond to the questions that were posed to him -- while the interviewer was asking the questions in a jocular manner. Our champ may be exhibiting signs of Asperger's Syndrome. He accurately clarified that his name was mispronounced. He honestly and literally answered that he could not say what his mother said or what her reaction was when he won (he was on stage at that moment, she was not), and helpfully suggested that to find that out the interviewer should ask the mother, an easy thing to do, and he honestly answered about what he ate.

Who was being rude when the interviewre sprung the spelling test on him; and then aggravated this by not being able to present the challenge with the basic information uniformly provided under the rules and routines of competive spelling competition.

Shame on you who try to judge this outstanding child!

sks at 3:37PM on Jun 7th 2007

26. Good grief. I usually don't respond to completely unnecessary and hurtful comments, but this is a young boy you are trashing. What on earth is wrong with you people, especially you, Ben Greenman, for even starting this horrific conversation? This bright, intelligent, young man is being accused of every social ill under the sun for no good reason. He very clearly is not sharing the same studio as the interviewer and was having trouble hearing her. And, as with most satelite interviews, there is some time delay, making the person on the other end appear nonresponsive for several seconds. The interviewer couldn't even get his name correct, and he had every right to clarify it. Further, she clearly mispronounced the word she wished for him to spell. He even stated he was having trouble hearing her. She was obviously having the same difficulty for she declared him correct even when he wasn't. After the question about his mother he looked away, no doubt looking to her for guidance with that question. The question was "What did your mom say when you finally won?" I assume the interviewer meant what did the mom say to her son, but with the question posed as it was, that certainly wasn't clear. And since he won while he was on the stage and not with his mom, can we not understand his reticence? He wasn't there for her first words. There is nothing wrong with this young man. Schooled at home or in the public system, you will find shy, awkward boys aplenty. Shame on all of you who dared to show your own shortcomings with your public ridicule of this boy.

TJS at 3:29PM on Jun 7th 2007

27. I happen to have both an extraordinary spelling ability and a history of poor social skills (I'm reasonably convinced that I have Asperger's Syndrome), and I think this kid's problem is that he's just an arrogant JERK. There's no fancy explanation.

J at 3:36PM on Jun 7th 2007

28. You know, I don't usually follow postings. But today I thought I'd check back every once in awhile to see how this one plays itself out. Carlton, I would suggest that you shouldn't settle for either option wen raising your children. You should be the parent in your household and address shortcomings in your child's development, whatever they may be. This child has reached an age at which he should be able to socialize, and yet for all of his "intelligence" he lacks basic communication skills. I don't blame him, and I don't believe most of the posters in this string of postings blame him. The concensus that I am reading is that his parents have not done a good job of preparing him for the outside world. Maybe you're reading different postings than I am. The thing is, very few job interviewers are going to say, "I realize that he can't express a coherant thought, but he's just so daggone intelligent I'll overlook that one little flaw". Communication, and the ability to express one's views are just as important as learning to spell really big words. And may I say, Carlton, while you have proven yourself the king of prejudice and generalizations, not everyone who has expressed a concern over this childs lack of social skills is jealous of him. One last thing that everyone should consider; You don't have to know that you are being rude to fall into the category of a rude person. To the contrary, many rude people are so absorbed in themselves that they don't realize that they are being rude. Whether this child knows it or not, there are socially acceptable ways to communicate with others. Whether his parents have chosen to include social skills as part of his home schooling or not, the fact remains that if he responds in a socially unacceptable manner, he is being rude.

randolpho at 3:47PM on Jun 7th 2007

29. I just watched this video and I don't under stand what every body is talking about.

I work with kids every day from Public, private and home school.

I didn't hear this boy being rude at all.

His mother might have said something personal and he did not want to embarass her.

The spelling B kids need all the info he was asking for to put the word together in there heads correctly. If the info is not correct they cannot formulate the word correctly.

I thought he did great as far as social skills. He understood he was in front of millions of viewers and still was able to speak. I know a lot of adults that would have come off as being mentaly retarded if they were put under the same circumstance.

I personaly do not home school my child, but I have respect for those that do.

The home schooled kids that I am around and it is several different families are respectful of there parents and adults. They don't walk around cursing and dressing like some kind of hoodlum or prostitute. They speak clearly and confidently even with adults.

Yes, they are more mature then most kids there age and national statistics show them on average as better educated then the average public school child.

I don't mean to upset any body but facts are facts and the public school scores are typicaly lower then private and home schooled kids.

Honor and integrety is equaly important as book education and the public schools through that out years ago.

You can be the smartest person on earth, but with out honor and integrity your nothing but a loser.

If I spelled some words wrong, oh well sorry. I'm a product of public scools.

Scott

Scott at 4:08PM on Jun 7th 2007

30. This kid is an walking advertisement for not home schooling your child. Absolutely no socialization skills. Unbelievable...Evan O'Dorkney.

KT at 4:12PM on Jun 7th 2007