Posted on 06/18/2007 12:21:52 AM PDT by LibertyRocks
Edited on 06/18/2007 1:15:58 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
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.
Hi you two... Would you please ping both the regular Homeschool & the “Another Reason to Homeschool” Lists? I would really like Buena Vista Entertainment, and specifically Mr. Wilonsky to know that comments like this will not go ignored or tolerated. Thanks. (o:
Here are some “Live Links” for the info in the post:
EBERT & ROEPER WEBSITE (remember to use the feedback link at the top navigation bar):
http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/
EMAIL FOR ROBERTY WILONSKY:
Robert.Wilonsky@dallasobserver.com
Exactly! So take it as a compliment!
Did you mean Roper said all that to Wilonsky? I am pretty sure Ebert is not ding the show anymore due to his horrible cancer surgery.
Look at it like this, you think he implied homeschooled kids stupid or hyper-sheltered, but we know they’re far above the dumbed-down Stalinist sausage-robots they churn out in public school. A backhanded compliment.
No, perhaps I didn’t explain it well enough in my post.
Roeper said that Nancy Drew would be well-liked by 12-year-old girls and Wilonsky is the one that said, “Maybe Homeschooled 12-year-olds” with a very condescending tone and look...
Oh, I do take it as a compliment, personally...
It’s just that I’m very tired of hearing this type of ignorant commentary. And, Wilonsky did the whole eye-roll, nasty tone thing along with it.
I’m just the type of person that takes a moment to express my displeasure and tries to educate the ones who make such ridiculous comments... I figured some of the other homeschoolers here at FR are the same way, and hence the post... (o:
I totally agree with what you’ve said... I’m really not that upset at this point, but I do like to take the opportunity to try and educate those who say these things. IMHO, nothing can accomplish that better than a group of well-educated parents and their kids calling someone on their stuff. (o;
In fact, perhaps we should just have our children write to Mr. Wilonsky, and Ebert & Roeper... LOL
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?
I realize from re-reading that you’re the parent of a homeschooled. Must be just a laugh-riot at home. I’ll pray for them.
Homeschooled girls are so backward. Why, most of them do not even have navel rings at 12. What prudes.
YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO NEVER BE OFFENDED
We all have far bigger things to worry about than a snide remark by some two-bit movie critic... no?
Ooooh, graphics! Grow up.
It’s past your bedtime Fremont Lives.
Go to bed.
Sleep well.
Touche.
Well said. And actually he’s more of a one-bit critic. I believe he does reviews for HDNet (Dan Rather’s network)
Lack of social development??? That’s precisely why I am upset by this comment. You are showing a great deal of ignorance in your post.
I and my children have a great sense of humor, thank you. And, I’m curious as to how many homeschoolers you’ve actually met? Not all homeschoolers are the same, and not all homeschool for the same reasons.
I personally have had psychologists and doctors whom our family is friends with express to me that my children are more well-adjusted, and very matured socially in comparison to the other government-schooled children they’ve come in contact with. I’m afraid you are very off-the-mark with your comments...
Don’t bother praying for my children FremontLives... They’re just fine, thanks...
LOL (o:
No, you’re absolutely right, and I never said I did. But that doesn’t mean I can’t speak out when I am offended, does it???
There is a difference between being over-sensitive and fighting against stereotypes and prejudices in relation to this subject. I’m all for freedom of speech, and I don’t like the PC world we live in nowadays, but that doesn’t mean that we should sit back and not say something when someone is truly off-the-mark...
And yes, there are some bigger things to worry about (The WOT, and our sovereignty in relation to the NAU), but homeschooling is one right that I am fighting to keep as well... At least we still have the ability to homeschool and fight against the brainwashing going on in our public schools which is contributing to the socialist/NWO people who are trying to ruin our country. When people like this person are not educated on the truth about homeschooling it becomes a threat to our ability to educate our own children.
Thank God, my child was never subjected to such trash.
To me the scary thing about this mindset is that Wilonsky seems to think todays 12 year olds aren’t and shouldn’t be innocent.
I read an album review today, the reviewer wrote that the band needed to have more drug addictions and more broken relationships so they could have an edge.
This is something I have noticed about the progressive left, if something isn’t steeped in dangerous living and immorality, it’s naive and worthless.
When people like this person are not educated on the truth about homeschooling it becomes a threat to our ability to educate our own children.
Why? How?
Advocacy for homeschooling is a great thing to do. I don’t watch television, but it appears to me from your account that Wilonsky was being a little more dramatic than masculine. I’ve seen quite a few anxious reactions and fallacious arguments against homeschooling—mostly from teachers who have noticeably unhealthy families. Homeschooling families in this neighborhood tend to stand out as being more healthy, productive and genuinely civil.
I thank God as well. I really wish more people would wake up and take their children out of the government schools. I honestly can’t believe some of the things that go on nowadays — even in supposedly “good” school systems.
Gore’s movie being shown in science classes throughout the nation is an excellent example of how political our educational system has truly become... It’s not just that Gore is a political figure, but that his whole movie is sensationalist, and not based on scientific facts, either! I can’t understand why this is being tolerated by parents... Then again, the liberal educators’ ultimate goal is to replace the parents, and I’m sure some parents don’t even realize what is being taught to their children (which is sad).
As far as the threat to socialist/commies — exactly, and that’s one reason why many politicians attempt to take away our rights in relation to homeschooling.
Why?
Because they continue pushing the wrongful stereotypes and prejudices already present in our society in regards to homeschoolers.
How?
Because politicians (like Hillary, but not just on the left) take advantage of the uneducated people in our society who are prejudiced and believe the stereotypes about homeschoolers to push their socialist agendas (i.e. Government mandated nationalized curriculum, and attempts to curtail the freedom of parents to make education related decisions for their children to name just a couple of things).
I’m heading to bed for the night... Will respond to other posts tomorrow.
People who want to homeschool will homeschool regardless of what a film critic says. And the stereotypes will persist regardless of what a film critic says or doesn’t say.
Ignorant does not even begin to describe your blanket indictment of homeschooled kids. And while what I describe above is NOT the absolute for ALL public schools it is but the tip of an iceberg full of reasons why people home school today.
I couldn't’ agree more. The failed and failing public school monopoly’s are not educating but indoctrinating the children in their care. Their inability to educate at huge cost boarders on criminal. Amen.
How was your Prom?
My prom would have been the same whether I was homeschooled or not. But looking on the bright side, mom is a great dancer.
“We all have far bigger things to worry about than a snide remark by some two-bit movie critic... no?”
Only if you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.
Being insulted by the likes of them is no big deal. Check out this telling video clip of the two dumb asses bitching at each other like...well...you apply your own derogatory description. I am sure it will fit.
Isn’t this movie show a total opinion show. It obviously means that they don’t prefer to have homeschooling. So what! Homeschooling is not going anywhere. It will be here long after this show goes off the air.
It doesn’t sound like an insult to me. He is saying that homeschooled kids are not “with it”: not into the modern (or post-modern) ethos.
That is a compliment, actually. He may not have intended it that way, and he is showing his prejudices; but to the impartial reader or listener, it sounds quite favorable to homeschoolers.
I hope that you're not teaching your homeschoolers that disrespect is a verb.
Perhaps he meant that since the Nancy Drew character isn’t dressed like a tarted up slut that she would be well liked . . . He may not have meant it as a compliment, but I would take it like one.
Why not? The dictionary does--at least in part.
You’re kidding, right?
Disrespect is a verb. We often make nouns into verbs and this process is still active in American English.
If you want to get upset about something, try "gender" used in place of "sex."
About something as important as the correct use of parts of speech? Surely you jest?
I don’t think it’s an insult. It’s just stating that most 12-year-old girls in the public school system are more interested in watching something related to too-early sex and glamor, while homeschooled kids are more wholesome. That’s a good thing, right? So Wilonsky was not insulting you or homeschoolers.
Sometimes when one is discriminated against a great deal, it’s easy to see more discrimination where there is none. But if you write an outraged letter to Wilonsky you’ll just confirm his preconception that homeschoolers are humorless prudes. Go easy.
bump
“To me the scary thing about this mindset is that Wilonsky seems to think todays 12 year olds aren’t and shouldn’t be innocent.”
I think you’re right on target here. This movie reviewer’s nastiness speaks more about his own shortcomings and those that may exist in his own household, then it does regarding home-schoolers across the nation, who are more obviously and very publicly proving that allowing a child to be a child is much more healthy for the child and the family than otherwise.
I couldn’t care less what some talking head on tv thinks about what would make my 12 year old happy. What I do care about is whether or not the Good Lord is pleased with what I’m doing and how I’m raising my children.
For a nation that likes to speak with pride about rugged individualism I am always privately amused by the numbers of people who react viscerally against home-schoolers. It’s rather pathetic on their part. It serves to expose the Communist gulag mentality they feel comfortable with.
” 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? “
My 3 nieces are homeschooled in Maine. I’ve gotten to know them and the kids in their homeschooling co-op, which pools resources to do a lot of things together, pretty well. Their educational levels are all far superior to that of their peers in public schools, and, to a one, their social development is not only equivalent to that of their public school friends, but years ahead of them. They are comfortable in their own skins, gregarious and considerate, polite, and able to defer gratification. The only discomfort they experience with public schooled kids their age has to do with the immaturity, selfishness, and laziness of the public-schoolers.
If it was only my nieces, I could say it was genetic. But since it is also the rest of the group, I can’t. If it was only the religion-based homeschoolers, I could credit their faith. But my nieces are atheists (but outstanding people nonetheless), while most of the others are Jehova’s Witness members. (Interesting combo).
I went to the graduation party of my eldest niece last month. There were a lot of homeschoolers there, and a number of public schoolers. It was a dance. We had a blast. They had a blast. They have more fun than anyone I know, and they have maturity and perspective to balance it. I would stack those kids up against anybody you’ve got. And I know what would have happened to them if they’d gone to public school:
Slowest Common Denominator.
Homeschooling became “legal” only in the past 30 years. Before that, homeschoolers were harassed and even sent to jail by overzealous courts and social workers.
Homeschoolers do not take their victories over the public school blob lightly - we know what they cost in family trauma to secure.
You might want to read up on the history of homeschooling and the legal fights to secure the right to do so from the state and federal education blob before you make such a careless comment.
There is no right secured to us in the Constitution that is safe from legislatures. The recent and ongoing fight over eminent domain should tell you that, as just one example.
Did you forget the < sarcasm >??? Please say yes.
Becky
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.