Homeschooler Nathan Cornelius wins national geography bee

Star Tribune ^ | May 25, 2005 | Greg Gordon

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON -- Nathan Cornelius, a home schooled seventh grader from Cottonwood, Minn., won the 17th annual National Geographic Bee competition today, with a dazzling display of knowledge about places, cultures, cities, countries and rivers around the globe.

For winning the competition, which started with 5 million students nationwide, Nathan was awarded a $25,000 scholarship.

He bested nine other finalists during the taping of the event moderated by TV’s ''Jeopardy!'' host Alex Trebek.

He was one of two contestants to survive a double elimination first round that took 105 questions.

Then he outlasted Karan Takhar, 14, of Rhode Island,in an 11-question championship round.

The deciding question called on the contestants to identify the dammed river that forms artificial Lake Gatun in the Panama Canal system.

Nathan hardly hesitated before writing down his answer: the Chagres River. He couldn’t contain a big smile when Trebek noted that the two finalists had different answers.

[Modernman]

From my perspective....many more families could H.S. if they really wanted to. They just choose not to.

I think that is true. For many people, homeschooling simply isn't necessary. Like I said, many public school districts are still quite good and wealthier people can afford private schools.

I'm quite sure that is true....but for every "great" school you can name...I can name one's that aren't. I suspect..( I have no proof..) that the bad out weigh the good. But I admit to a bias here. Ha!!

Depends on where you live. Of course, urban school systems tend to be bad (with some notable exceptions). However, school districts in richer areas are usually pretty good. Not necessarily because there is more money, but because yuppies tend to care about their childrens' education.

I agree. I take it, that you can't find a good public school in D.C.?

One of the problems is, in the richer parts of DC, parents send their kids to private schools pretty much across the board. So, there is no critical mass of concerned parents in even a place like Georgetown to keep an eye on the goings-on in the local school. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy- the only people who sends their kids to public school in DC are those who either don't care about their kids' education or those who simply have no other choice. Not a good recipe for a good school system.

[politicket]

Thanks! Our desire is to see a homeschooler win. My son only began studying for the local level the beginning of February so we'll see how far he gets...

[t_skoz]

Good point, HLL.

I was just going to point out that the kid looks an awful lot like the Jewish kids in my old neighborhood. A lot of Jewish families homeschool their kids!

[Modernman]

And THAT is why she needs to homeschool especially if she has a male child. It is already happening with young Blacks in places like Chicago, Gary, Newark, etc. and the trend with continue.

I'd be curious to see which segments of the black population in those places is homeschooling. I'd be willing to bet that the people who are most likely to homeschool in those places are families where mom and dad are married. Again, the single mom in her late 20's or early 30's is not going to have the same flexibility.

Even is the singlemMom is 15 and her aunt is 30 they should have no trouble getting little Tamika's or little Jamil's writing up to and surpassing DC public school standards.

Well, that's a pretty low bar :-) Of course, there's one other point you may want to consider- the single mother in Anacostia, no matter how determined she is to give her kids a good education, is highly unlikely to have anything more than a high school degree. She might well be functionally illiterate herself (as are something like 40% of the kids who actually graduate from DC schools).

I think we can all agree that DC schools are pretty much the bottom of the barrell. If I was given supreme dictator powers, I would fire everyone in the system and give each kid a voucher to go to a school of his or her choice.

[Aquinasfan]

Since gov't schools generally don't teach geography, homeschoolers have a pretty much wide open field.

[WV Mountain Mama]

In the spirit of public education, let me be the first to call him a dork while giving him a cyber wedgie. ;) Congrats Nathan!! He has already forgotten what most kids never learn!

[Aquinasfan]

But as you imply, there are lots of opportunities for negative socialization.

You mean like sex, drugs and rock and roll? Where would we all be without school?

[rockthecasbah]

Ping me on future posts. My wife home schooled our two sons this year, ages 5 and 9. They both tested 2 to 4 grade levels higher in reading, writing and math as compared to their public school counterparts. Our nine year old converses comfortably with people of all ages and has a vocabulary comparable with most educated adults (minus the filth). His proudest possession is a wristwatch that beeps twice everyday at precisely 3:16 pm! His name is John.

[Search4Truth]

"He may be able to know where places are, but what does he know about social justice?"

... or Johnny's two dads? Or global warming? Or the joys of promiscuity?

Poor kid, he doesn't have a chance. :)

[dawn53]

I've said it before, but to us, that was the biggest payoff of homeschooling.

[Aquinasfan]

He may be able to know where places are, but what does he know about social justice?

I just got off the phone with my sister who was telling me about "the diversity poem" her daughter was writing.

I can't believe we had the same parents.

[Spirited]

Can't neglect to admit that his parents also showed wisdom and love commitment for home schooling him.

Excellence is that for which America used to stand. Since the teacher's union has taken over the education of our children we have a sad result.

Even more sad is the fact that they appear to have been successful in keeping major colleges and universities from admitting many excellent home-schooled students even though their SAT scores are higher, their knowledge level is deeper and their activity level is broader.

I expect, longterm, to see many of those same colleges and universities lose funding and reputation to the schools that do accept the best students regardless of what the source of their precollege education. All that a bunch of them have left is a good PR group for a relatively empty shell education.

When young, tiny Patrick Henry College recently won the moot court competition in "merry olde", beating out Oxford in their own Nation with their own British judges it underscored the point that excellence isn't necessarily named Harvard or Yale, neither of which had accomplished such a feat to my knowledge.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1301378/posts
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[politicket]

He may be able to know where places are, but what does he know about social justice?

Didn't you read that he is homeschooled? He has learned more about social justice than most public school kids would ever dream. And his textbook is - the Bible.

[Aquinasfan]

For many people, homeschooling simply isn't necessary.

Have you homeschooled? A better word for homeschooling might be "home-raised" or "home-taught." Schooling (whether gov't or private) is vastly different from homeschooling. The essential difference is parental/familial influence versus peer/teacher-stranger influence.

[Osage Orange]

Pretty much agree with your comments..........

FRegards,

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I was just going to point out that the kid looks an awful lot like the Jewish kids in my old neighborhood. A lot of Jewish families homeschool their kids!

Yes, my point was that parents of all religions can be proud of their children succeeding. I don't even know how a kid can look 'Christian'.

[TalonDJ]

It is entirely possible for lower income single parents to homeschool and still work full time or more than full time. One of the nice things about home school is you can do it around any schedule.

[dawn53]

Even more sad is the fact that they appear to have been successful in keeping major colleges and universities from admitting many excellent home-schooled students even though their SAT scores are higher, their knowledge level is deeper and their activity level is broader.

My kid is 17 and was homeschooled until he reached 10th grade, now he takes classes at the community college.

This summer he's finishing out his credits for his AA and needed a couple Humanities credits, so he's taking them through the school's online program.

He was having a hard time logging into "turnitin.com" (an interesting little website where students submit their work for their prof's to view, and it identifies any plagarism that is found in the work).

Anyway, the prof gave him a call to tell my son that he had gone ahead and set up an account for him at "turnitim", but since my son wasn't home, I spoke to the prof.

He asked me if he was "dual credit" and remarked on the number of courses he'd taken, and then he asked where he had attended school.

I answered that he had been homeschooled up until 10th grade, and his remark, "My best students are homeschooled kids."

I really hadn't heard that homeschooled kids were having trouble getting into Universities. At least not the homeschooled kids I'm aware of. In "Homeschooling for Excellence", one of the original handbooks for homeschooling, I believe all 4 of their kids got into Ivy League schools.

[Modernman]

Have you homeschooled?

Nope. No kids yet. But I have gone to both public and private schools and I know many people who have gone to public schools. It is not possible to generalize as to whether all public schools are bad or good. Mine was quite good.

The essential difference is parental/familial influence versus peer/teacher-stranger influence.

The question comes down to what kind of influence the peers and teachers exert. Again, some places the influences are bad, in others they are good.

[Modernman]

It is entirely possible for lower income single parents to homeschool and still work full time or more than full time.

Assuming mom works a regular 9-5 job, what do the kids do while she's out during the day?