Homeschoolers Disrespected on Ebert & Roeper

Ebert & Roeper ^ | 6/18/07

[LibertyRocks]

I was just watching Ebert & Roeper and would like to report to my fellow homeschoolers that the guest host taking Roger Ebert's place tonight, Robert Wilonsky, made a very disrespectful and rude comment in relation to homeschoolers...

While reviewing the upcoming movie "Nancy Drew" Roeper made a comment that Nancy was a 1950's girl in relation to what she thought constituted a birthday party. When Roeper said that this would be a good movie that would be liked by 12-year-old girls, Wilonsky replied, "Maybe Homeschooled 12-year-olds"...

I found this to be a very ignorant and disrespectful comment, and I am left wondering what Mr. Wilonsky thinks would be better suited for 12-year-old Public Schooled/Private Schooled students to be watching (Sex, Drinking & Drugs???)?

I would like to ask my fellow homeschool parents to write to both Ebert & Roeper (Buena Vista Entertainment) as well as Mr. Wilonsky himself, and express your displeasure with this disrespectful comment.

Here is how to contact the show & Mr. Wilonsky...

Ebert & Roeper Show: http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/ Use the "Feedback" link at the top navigation bar to submit a comment.

Mr. Wilonsky: I could only find one email address online for Mr. Wilonsky (he also writes at RottenTomatoes.com, as well as the Village Voice, L.A. Weekly, and the Phoenix New Times). Here is his email address through his employer the Dallas Observer:

Robert.Wilonsky@dallasobserver.com

In my comment to the Ebert & Roeper show I requested not only that they do not bring Mr. Wilonsky back for any more co-hosting gigs, but also that they issue an on-air apology to all homeschooled students.

[metmom]

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

disrespect

Main Entry: 1dis·re·spect
Pronunciation: "dis-ri-'spekt
Function: transitive verb
1 : to have disrespect for
2 : to show or express disrespect or contempt for : INSULT, DIS

I hope you realize you're dealing with homeschoolers who know this kind of stuff.

[unspun]

How was your prom?

Oh, it was okay. I don't really remember what happened after 3am, but I had the strangest smelling breath, when I woke up.

Julie has the most peculiar pains in her lower abdomen, now and she thinks she has chlamydia. Linda's pain is from her abortion.

At least Heather isn't feeling any pain anymore, since she was with Nick when he drove off that bridge after all that booze. Just wrecked her dress, though.

[metmom]

I think it also serves to reveal the guilt they feel about their parenting and their attitudes towards their own children. I’ve met tons of parents who hate summer and *can’t wait for the rugrats to go back to school and get out from under my feet*.

How incredibly pathetic that someone’s own mother doesn’t even want them around. They did such a poor job raising their own children that they can’t even stand being around them. I always wonder why people like that wanted kids in the first place.

[cinives]

I agree with you. IMO the proper way to look upon this is as: “speaking up in defense” instead of “being a victim”.

I see it as a way to educate an ignorant person on the error of this mindset towards homeschooling, or to expose his bias towards the corruption of 12 year old children.

When Iran’s President tells the world that he thinks there was no Holocaust, do you think we should all be silent because he should be allowed to say anything he wants ? With public actions comes responsibility - the responsibility to be held accountable.

If we don’t defend homeschooling, who will ?

[metmom]

People forget about the wonderful social opportunity of NOT being invited to the prom when virtually everyone else is.

[netmilsmom]

Thanks!

Oh and for those who wonder about Prom and Graduation, I was public school educated and didn’t attend either of mine. However, homeschoolers are very resourseful. My children will have the opportunity to attend both. The joys of being near Selfridge ANG base means that homeschooling families do these things ourselves. AND the Cedar Point trip follows.

We have a group for 9 to 13 year old girls called a Tweens Group. We get together at a family’s house to do things like luaus, fiestas and candy making. For the summer, the girls are allowed to invite their schooled friends. Last week we had an event and one girl brought an 11 year old friend who is terribly abused at school. She is a sweet girl who doesn’t fight back so she is a target. She went home and cried because she found some “nice kids” to hang with. This little girl has talked suicide.

Oh yeah, socialization is everything.

[rhema]

So you are right, if Nancy is not dancing around a pole or experimenting with Bess to find her sexuality, the homeschoolers will be the only ones that enjoy it. Good thing we are a growing section of society. This movie should be a success.”

My wife (who read Nancy Drew mysteries as a 10-year-old) and I saw it yesterday. Great movie for the whole family, just as Ted Baehr in Movieguide.org said it would be.

[metmom]

Many of those incidences were ones that either friend’s children told me happened to them, or things that made the (very) local news.

We moved from that community, thank God (and I don’t say that lightly), and they were some of the many reasons we homeschooled.

It was a welfare community. Imagine living in an episode of COPS.

[metmom]

One of the homeschool support groups we belong to put together their own prom.

NYS L.E.A.H. also has a graduation for homeschoolers every year at their annual convention.

[JenB]

I didn’t “miss” the prom, I never wanted to go. I didn’t have a boyfriend until I was 22; and we were long distance, so we decided to just get married. Nine months so far and we’re scarily happy.

I suppose some folks say that I’m under-developed socially because I didn’t date a lot of guys but since I had really stringent criteria that only my husband meets, out of all the men I’ve ever met, I didn’t see it that way at all.

[finnigan2]

i wouldn’t get too upset at Wilonsky. As a guest co- host on a popular TV show, he’s merely hoping to draw attention to himself as a hip, with-it liberal with the right credentials who can goose the shows ratings. His aim is merely to keep his name in the producers minds as a permanent replacement for Ebert in case he doesn’t make it back.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I just get totally miffed about the “prom” being such a big issue. Why is that? Why is the prom issue always one of the first things people bring up about what a homeschooled kid will miss.

There are plenty of PS kids who don’t even go.

I just don’t get what the fuss about the prom is all about.

Becky

[PierreLegrand]

You have a point but the problem I see is denying the holocaust and contrasting public and home schooled children are not quite the same thing.

The only reason I can see to “defend” homeschooling is the possibility that if we don’t it might be possible that some might try and take that right away. Otherwise I am happy to have those ignorant of homeschooling live long and sad lives ignorant of the advantage they could be giving their kids. Course that is assuming that they are not so selfish that they would be willing to spend the time with their kids.

Re: Socialization...I agree wholeheartedly with others that I don’t want my kids “socialized” by the brats, thugs and left wing teachers roaming the schools these days. But even more importantly I believe that having an extremely close knit family gives my kids advantages that others can only dream of. After all how many 7 year olds are able to confidently travel by themselves to Manhattan to visit their Aunt?

[metmom]

You poor, deprived creature.

My daughter hasn’t found a boyfriend yet. She says that’s because she’s looking for a man, and most of the guys she’s met so far don’t qualify. In the meantime, she’s enjoying herself.

My other two see the drama (as they call it) of their friends with their boy/girl friends and just don’t see that it’s worth it.

There’s plenty of time for being tied down once you’re married.

I’m glad things have worked out so well for you.

[MrB]

This incident is much more of a negative commentary on Wilonsky than it is on homeschooled kids.

[TalonDJ]

Lighten up. If school were just about education, I’d have a lot of sympathy, but you’re missing a huge chunk of social development (as the lack of sense of humor in this post shows). I’ve known many home schooled kids in my day, and I’ve yet to meet one of them who wouldn’t have been better off with a real Public/Private school upbringing. How was your Prom?

Your post would be funny if it did not display such colossal bigotry. You clearly don't know what you are talking about. 99% of people I met when I told them I was homeschooled were surprised. There are literally millions of graduates of homeschool out in there. Many people have the same sort of bigotry. They seem to think homeschoolers are going to be all deprived and warped and are surprised to find they don't all come across as know-it-all spelling be champ robots. The really sad and funny people are the ones that think getting picked on in school is some sort of necessary social development. The people that claim that are always the bigger, taller, kids that probably were doing the picking on and not the social misfits who's highschool was a living hell.

Having been to dozens of homeschooling conventions and events I can safely say I have met THOUSANDS of homeschooled kids as well as graduates of homeschool. The tiny handful that might have been better off in public school were the complete and total brats who had no respect for their parents and hence were not learning at home. Studies have disproved your claim about 'socialization'. Feel free to look them up. You will not though, that much is obvious.

[metmom]

The prom tickets at our local high school cost $100 per TICKET. Other prom costs are the limos, dresses/tuxes, hair, shoes, etc. All for one night of a dinner?

Our school district had an *After the Prom Party* that was held in the school and very well supervised. Some kids didn’t want to spend the money on the prom, so they went out to dinner at a nice restaurant and went to the After the Prom Party anyway and had a blast.

I went to a prom with a boyfriend and it was nice, but certainly not the highlight of my public school experience.

[TalonDJ]

My wife, Jen, and I actually MET right here on FR on a thread about a state homeschool prom (in AZ I think). We were joking about ‘lack of socialization’ because that is the one the ignorant always talk about. Her sense of humor attracted me to her right from the start.

[MrB]

Hey, Liberty - I have a little story for you to support/accentuate your “socially adjusted” commentary.

Imagine this situation: My family spent the weekend at a homeschool conference, then Sunday evening we went to a local mall to eat at a kids’ theme restaurant. Now, where do you think the kids we observed were more “socially adjusted”?

I’m telling you, going to that mall was like going to some foreign country after being surrounded by well behaved, Christian children and teens.

[TalonDJ]

At homeschooling conventions, walking in the crowd, you can spot the kids fresh out of public school or whose parents are only thinking of home schooling. You can spot them from a hundred feet away by their despondent ‘ew I am in public with my parents’ expression and their slouching ‘I am cool because I hate you all’ body language. Ok, not all of them were this way but the percentage was enough to bet plenty of money on.