Child Genius - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run.

[zxy556575]

I'm enjoying this well enough, although high IQs aside, I'm not sure any of these kids are what I would call geniuses. They have shown the ability to study, I'll give them that.

 

I felt horrible for the youngest girl who was cut in the most recent ep. As her parents said, she so needed a hug on stage after doing so poorly. But she's very pretty, so that's something. ;)

 

Rooting for the kid whose parents constantly berate -- oh sorry, "encourage" -- him. Did he possibly take 2 days off to go to Boy Scout camp? Because I wasn't sure.

 

I'm curious about the filming schedule since they want us to believe there's one challenge a week. Do all the families actually fly back and forth to the venue every time?

[zxy556575]

Most of the parents seem fairly reasonable except of course for "I'm not a tiger mom." But I'm also ever so slightly respectful because neither she nor her husband are trying to be their son's pal. It does not matter if he's resentful or angry about all the pushing -- their job as parents is to keep the pressure on, and by god they do.
 

[Crucial]

I was hesitant to watch this show and now I know why.  I'm sorry but like Dance Moms, it's the parents who are the worst on this show too.  I swear some of these parents are wanting to live out their dreams through their children.  Ryan's mom, for me, was the worst. Nothing that child does is good enough.  She is so far pas a tiger mom it's disgusting like she is.  While I'm sure these kids are gifted, my heart aches for them because of some of the parents they have.

[Dobian]

Watched it for the first time last night.  How many eps have there been?  I felt bad for some of the kids.  It's obvious some of them did poorly not because they weren't smart enough but because of stage fright.  They miss one or two and then get the deer-in-the-headlights look and start passing on questions.  The questions are as much a test of knowledge as actual intelligence.  Someone who is pretty bright but a total bookworm could beat a lot of pure geniuses in this contest.

[heebiejeebie]

I've only seen the extended preview and ads but I did come away with this. 

 

From what I saw, like Jeopardy, the show is not going to delve too deeply into the real intellectual challenge aspect.  Because if the show truly operated at the level these kids are suppose to be at, the rest of us wouldn't understand a damn thing.  They'll throw in a couple of toughies, but I'm betting most of it will be stuff you might not know to answer, but you recognize when it is mentioned (sort of like how Jeopardy has gotten pretty bad that if the category is Opera no matter what the money, at least one answer will be dealing with Mozart, one with Puccini and one with Wagner it seems)

 

Also I'm betting no matter how smart the kids, if the parents aren't bringing the crazy 'Lil Einstein can go MC squared.

 

It is shows like this that make me wish hell did exist.  So no matter what level I'm roasting at, I know there are some people a couple levels hotter and more painful.

Edited January 16, 2015 by heebiejeebie

[SnarkKitty]

Wasn't sure if I would like it, so I DVR'd and held a bit before watching. Liked it enough to watch episode 2 the next day. I agree these are mostly kids who can retain facts moreso than geniuses, but that's okay. I do feel a little bad when they get that first question and miss it, and then pass or freak afterwards. I like the balance of "tiger" parents vs those who are like, yeah, he/she's smart but we want them to be well-rounded and happy. There's definitely a lot of living through your kid but hey, I've been guilty of being kid-proud when they're called and awarded for first place, so can't snark that!

 

It's kind of funny how Ryan is driving his parents, mainly his mother crazy by not studying and being perfectly okay with coming in second or third, and having some fun and relaxation time as the trade-off. Very cool how they all wait to hear the others' results and then are so happy for one another. Reminds me of Junior Master Chef. Good job, kids.

[Kromm]

Do we regard a parent of a genius asking them if they are prioritizing a contest over their relationship with God as delusional? 

[Kromm]

I actually remember Vanya from the Scripps Spelling Bee.  Now I find myself wondering exactly how often the poor girl has to pee though.

 

A few of those parents come off as kind of monstrous, but that's balanced out by some cases where the motivation is clearly coming from the kid.  Then you've got a kid like Izzy, where both ends of the equation seem a bit messy (a mother who'd actually say something like "you don't want to look like an idiot" vs. Izzy herself expressing quite clearly that she's smarter than dear old Dad, and tons of signs that she's not only hyper, but probably has a ton of other emotional challenges in her life.

[Kromm]

It's kind of funny how Ryan is driving his parents, mainly his mother crazy by not studying and being perfectly okay with coming in second or third, and having some fun and relaxation time as the trade-off. Very cool how they all wait to hear the others' results and then are so happy for one another. Reminds me of Junior Master Chef. Good job, kids.

I found it far more telling when even when Ryan got FIRST place (week 1) his mother was dissatisfied, while Ryan was the one who clearly had his priorities correct (preserving at least a little bit of a normal life).  His mom is almost like a stereotype of the nagging Asian parent pushing their kid to excellence--looking even MORE foolish in a case where its clear he's no slacker (since he was winning anyway). Edited January 18, 2015 by Kromm

[Kromm]

And there's also Ryan's parents. His Dad endlessly goes on about "focus", while his mom comes off like a stereotype of pushy Asian moms never satisfied with their kids (because you know... getting 8 out of 10 questions right in a round where most of the kids only got 4 or 5 right is a "failure" for her).

[Merriwind]

I teach at a school for gifted children, and I see these parents every day. Trust me, if this show is on for another season, I guarantee kids (or should I say parents) from my school will be vying for a spot on it. Those parents of that little girl Izzy on the first episode were the worst. "We don't push her...she does all this all on her own...honey, you better learn this and do well so you don't look like an idiot." The looks on the parents' faces as the kids are up show how much this competition is about them. They truly believe their children's performance is a reflection of them. Crazy!

[Kromm]

I teach at a school for gifted children, and I see these parents every day. Trust me, if this show is on for another season, I guarantee kids (or should I say parents) from my school will be vying for a spot on it. Those parents of that little girl Izzy on the first episode were the worst. "We don't push her...she does all this all on her own...honey, you better learn this and do well so you don't look like an idiot." The looks on the parents' faces as the kids are up show how much this competition is about them. They truly believe their children's performance is a reflection of them. Crazy!

Izzy's mom and the "look like an idiot" comment was a big pile of it, yes... although you could see the Dad wince at least when she said that.

Ryan's parents don't even have THAT much self-awareness. I mean his mom is falling so hard into that Asian parent stereotype it's not even funny. Literally nothing he does is good enough--he WON episode one and got harangued, so by the time episode two rolled around and he only got scores superior to all but three of the others? You could tell Mom was gonna go apeshit (and Dad joined in with less frequent, but even more pointed commentary). Clearly they want him to win, and I don't even object to that. But they don't seem to realize that framing things in terms of "win or else" isn't working with a kid so much smarter than the two of them. Then again, the fact that he even got to go to the Boy Scout thing at all makes me wonder if its possible there's some acting for the camera. I mean if they let him go just so they didn't look bad, they undid that good will by haranguing him so constantly about it afterwards. But I actually can't think of a motive for them to be acting up just for the cameras. It's not like there's a reality show deal at the end of this. So Mom probably really is that nuts, and the Boy Scout thing probably slipped by her just because she deluded herself that seeming to give Ryan a choice would look good on camera, whereas haranguing him somehow... wouldn't (well, frankly it might not to other overachieving Asian mothers, with their stereotypical yet actually existent cultural bias towards that).

[Dirtybubble]

Then again, the fact that he even got to go to the Boy Scout thing at all makes me wonder if its possible there's some acting for the camera. I mean if they let him go just so they didn't look bad, they undid that good will by haranguing him so constantly about it afterwards.

I do remember his dad saying that Ryan had to make these decisions on his on, we can't make them for him.  For that I do applaud them.  Let him choose his own path but I agree, to constantly nag him about his decision later on is just pointless.  I wondered myself if they (the parents I mean) aren't playing this up for the cameras.  Mom really is coming across as a little bat shit but look their family gets the most screen time out of all the kids on the show.

[Dirtybubble]

I actually remember Vanya from the Scripps Spelling Bee.  Now I find myself wondering exactly how often the poor girl has to pee though.

LoL!  I thought this myself.  Honestly I like her family.  Sure their tough but not to the point of being crazy and they are encouraging with her 8/10 scores.  And as I said in another thread she herself seems to be very sweet and shows compassion for her fellow teammates. 

 

although high IQs aside, I'm not sure any of these kids are what I would call geniuses. They have shown the ability to study, I'll give them that.

I wonder what is considered a genius for a child and what it takes to qualify for this competition.  I noticed that some of the kids have their I.Q. scores shown while others are not...hmmm.   I would agree that I question whether some of these children are technically geniuses as well but I think (and maybe this is me showing my ignorance) some of these kids actually are that smart.  The one young man, Tanishq, who is in college...yeah to me I can tell simply the way he speaks and carries himself that he may very well be.

 

Enh either way I am enjoying this show immensely and I'm rooting for each child to be successful. 

 

I too was a bit confused as to how memorizing cards is part of a genius competition but to hear some of the kids describe the way they did it, aces being action verbs, etc. etc shows a lot of thought and discipline on their part.  Most kids I know would simply just try good ole fashion memorization but to create a system seems fairly clever and genius like to me. *shrug*

 

 

[Kromm]

Even the ones who don't have an IQ shown have the percentage shown (and that it's clearly within Mensa guidelines).  Although they haven't overtly said so, I think every single kid in the competition has to be a member of Mensa.

[hqtextbook]

Maybe I missed this in the episodes, but why would the kids ever "pass" on a question instead of guessing? There didnt seem to be any deduction for an incorrect answer, so i didnt really get why they didnt at least try on the math ones and even the "where is this body part" ones. Does anyone know??

[Kromm]

It could be that it's simply faster than coming up with a guess.

 

Or it could be that they have a maximum number of questions and a time limit we didn't hear about, and if they finish the questions in the time the questioner goes back to the passed questions.

[Dirtybubble]

It could be that it's simply faster than coming up with a guess.

 

Or it could be that they have a maximum number of questions and a time limit we didn't hear about, and if they finish the questions in the time the questioner goes back to the passed questions.

I do remember someone saying that the each child had 90 seconds to answer each set of questions.  Not sure if they can go back and answer previously skipped questions. 

 

I cannot tell you how much I laughed when I saw Tiger Mom and Dad standing behind Ryan during an interview and she kept putting her hand on his shoulder  and Ryan would just brush it off. Then she'd put it back, and he'd brush it off. Then she switched hands to the other shoulder and he shrugged that one off. She kept smiling big and looking kind of embarrassed.  I love that kid. His parents are relentless with the 'not good enough's and he just bats them all away.  He is so self-confident and secure.  You wouldn't expect that from a kid whose parents are so relentlessly negative about his 'efforts' and 'success'.  I wish we could bottle whatever it is and distribute that to every kid on the planet.

I found that funny as well; Ryan has the ability to be confident without being cocky.  I do hope he keeps that trait though out his life.  I've seen too many adults with high I.Q.s looking down on other people and behaving as if they are so superior because of that.  Bleeh =(

 

 

[Merriwind]

I do remember his dad saying that Ryan had to make these decisions on his on, we can't make them for him.  For that I do applaud them.  Let him choose his own path but I agree, to constantly nag him about his decision later on is just pointless.  I wondered myself if they (the parents I mean) aren't playing this up for the cameras.  Mom really is coming across as a little bat shit but look their family gets the most screen time out of all the kids on the show.

 

Me too--and I liked that. Mom is almost a caricature of the over achieving, Asian mom though. I cannot imagine living with that. Ryan's got to be all the way to the finals with the amount of air time his family gets.

[Gianthambeast]

Sometimes I hate Asian parents.  I'm Asian so I am well-familiar with this phenomenon.  I remeber getting a perfect score on the verbal section of the SAT.  What did my dad say to me? "Now you should work on your math."   I like this kid Ryan-- keep up the backtalk! Don't let them grind you down!

[Stella MD]

Speaking of which, the other parents going back in with a huge shit-eating grin to make the judges re-calculate *third* place was a new low. Why did that remotely matter? Have some class.

[Gianthambeast]

Speaking of which, the other parents going back in with a huge shit-eating grin to make the judges re-calculate *third* place was a new low. Why did that remotely matter? Have some class.

I know right?  Talk about petty-- it wasn't even an important distinction. This is where grade-grubbers come from. Also notice how Ryan's mother pulled him aside to give him an extra ass-chewing in Mandarin.  These parents are making themselves look stupid. 

[chabelisaywow]

So what does the astronomy section represent for Griffin(?) - fiction?

[Maharincess]

Ryan cracks me up. Love that kid!

"Ryan, you weren't number one"

"I don't care".

His parents are the worst. I'm happy they haven't killed that kid's spirit.

Poor little Madison. She's such a pretty girl, I like her parents a lot. I loved the scene of the older girls comforting her.

I like most of the kids and parents but Graham's mom pisses me off in the previews, asking him if "his" christian beliefs were more important than the competiton. No mom, those are your beliefs that you've forced upon him since birth. He was never allowed a choice in what to believe.

[tom87]

I loved how laid back Ryan is even with his crazy parents  He is going to turn 18 move  far away and  maybe visit once a year.  Probably end up being some computer wiz who sells some new innovation computer program at 25 and spends the rest of his life skateboarding  and surfing.

 

Graham stuff made no sense. No one way making him belevie it.  I love the judges look like um ok kid wahtever move on.

[fliptopbox]

I love how Tanishq basically eats the mic to answer each question. Kid might be a genius but doesn't understand you can be a few inches from the mic and still be heard.

 

The first week I watched this show I got curious and took the practice Mensa test. It only cost me $1, lol. Apparently I could qualify for Mensa, if I wanted to pay $50 to take the real deal in Philly. I think I will pass. Besides bragging rights and a resume highlight I don't really see the point. I think the majority of those kids are not true geniuses....gifted, sure. But maybe not genius level. You can be very smart and able to memorize facts and still not be a true genius. The Mensa practice test is more about how you think than how many facts you can regurgitate. Also, you have to answer 80 questions in 30mins. That was a tight one, and I still had 4mins to spare. I dunno about the official test, but I would imagine it's similar.

 

Graham and his mom talking about Christianity was weird. Regardless of what you really believe, as a scholar you would still need to know about the universe and the big bang theory then be able to explain it. You don't get a pass on learning about the solar system because you decide science is invalid. Besides, most of the questions had nothing to do with the actual "creation of the universe", they were asked facts about how things are today. Haley's Comet, planet distances/weights, etc. None of that had really anything to do with the beginning of life as we know it. I know some folks shelter their kids from stuff like that (ahem, Duggars) but keeping kids ignorant about the stars and space doesn't really help their education if they are considered a genius. Hopefully as Graham gets older he will start questioning religion vs science and stop with the blind faith cos his mother said so. But if not, oh well. He's not my kid!

Edited January 21, 2015 by fliptopbox

[Stella MD]

Even the relatively normal parent seem borderline nuts. What's with Vanya's dad and the water? Psychogenic polydipsia by proxy? And while Binjamin's (sp?) dad obviously cares a lot about him, I laughed out loud at the New Age-y deep breathing session on the lawn. I have a feeling the reason he's picked on isn't his small size after all.

Why are some kids not shown at all? One of the girls who went home was a complete non-entity. You'd think in a competition with only 12 kids that they could showcase each at least a little, but I guess it's better TV to waste airtime on Junior Duggar quizzing the cameramen about their ability to name scripture?

Some of the questions this week seemed oddly stupid. I had to laugh that each kid got some variant of 'which planet lies between X and Y?' My kid's entire (non-genius) pre-K class knew the order of the planets at age 4. Frankly, I'd be worried if any school-age kid couldn't answer those questions. And are they really given a list of material to study the week before? That's not 'genius', that's just 'good at memorizing quickly'. Med school flashbacks.

[BradandJanet]

My son pointed out that some of the kids apparently took the strategy of memorizing only part of the deck of cards. That makes sense since they had only an hour. I knew a lot of the anatomy questions but have no strategies for memorizing long sequences of random items.

[RococoChanel]

Wow, I feel like Graham's mom is bordering on child abuse. He did not look happy during their "discussion" on the couch. What a way to stifle that young boy's imagination and love of learning.

 

Also, all aboard the FREE RYAN! train. That kid is the best lol.

[Dirtybubble]

Even the relatively normal parent seem borderline nuts. What's with Vanya's dad and the water?

LoL--yeah even though what he says about water is true it is getting a little overdone.  Maybe playing it up for the cameras.  Either way his parents seem to be good people and I like how they praise and are supportive of her when she doesn't get perfect scores on some of the categories. 

 

And while Binjamin's (sp?) dad obviously cares a lot about him, I laughed out loud at the New Age-y deep breathing session on the lawn. I have a feeling the reason he's picked on isn't his small size after all.

Oh that kid is a sweetie pie and I like his dad as well; what did he say he did for a living?  (!!) So if meditation is whats needed for him to be successful so be it.  I've watched Binyamin in previous episodes and he seems to have a sweet nature and very supportive of his fellow competitors--good all around kid =)

 

And are they really given a list of material to study the week before?

I don't know if they are given specific books, etc. to read but it's obvious they don't know which questions are going to be asked.  So while memorization is part of it, to me it seems it's simply knowing the subject matter inside and out.  A kid may get lucky with some softball questions but I would think it's just how in depth is your knowledge of the subject at hand. 

 

I don't know why some kids are given screen time and some aren't.  *shrug* I wonder if these kids haven agents or managers to get together with the producers to guarantee a certain amount of screen time.  Or it could be that some parents just know how to play to the cameras, like Ryan's, while others may not be as exciting for reality tv like the girl that got no bio time but still went home.  It's just how the game is played I guess.

 

[JoannKB]

Maybe I missed this in the episodes, but why would the kids ever "pass" on a question instead of guessing? There didnt seem to be any deduction for an incorrect answer, so i didnt really get why they didnt at least try on the math ones and even the "where is this body part" ones. Does anyone know??

 

They can only answer a max of 10 questions, and there is a time limit for the round. So if they know they are going to get an answer wrong, it is better to pass to try to get an easier question. If they answer 10 questions, and get 5 wrong / 5 right, they are done with their turn and get a total score of 5. But if they pass on 5 questions, and answer 5 correctly, they get to keep answering new questions to try to improve their score, at least until the time limit is up.

[blatantlyobvious]

Ryan's parents seem SO familiar to me for some reason.  I'm wondering if they were the family on SuperNanny- the ones with something like 4 kids, all of whom were over-scheduled and basically living out of their van going from activity to activity.  They'd bought a new house, but barely had a chance to be in it- or had they even not moved in yet?  I can't remember.  One of the kids was named "Topher," which was short for Christopher, I think.

 

That episode keeps coming to mind when I see Ryan's parents.  Constant pushing of activities down the throats of the kids, who seemed completely stressed out.  

[Maharincess]

I'm putting this in the parents thread because that's where this kind of bigotry starts and its not the kids fault he spouts the crap he hears at home.

That said, Graham was one of my favorite kids until this episode.

I'm an atheist but have nothing but respect for anything anybody wants to believe in. When Graham said that anybody who doesn't believe that their god created the universe is stupid, I wanted to smack the crap out of his mom.

Most of my friends are Christian, one is Buddhist, and one is Jewish. I've been to their churches, Temple and have chanted and attended Buddhist events with my friend Daryl Ann.

Graham and his family are the worst type of Christian. They think that anybody who doesn't believe exactly as they do are wrong and "stupid".

I also hated how his mother said her family "knows" that god created the universe. No honey, that's what you believe, not what you know.

People like this make me say thanks god I'm an atheist.

Rant over. Sorry. That stuff just burns my ass.

Don't care much for Ryan's parents and Benyamin's dad scares the hell out of me, I like almost all of the other parents.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Maharincess

[jackjill89]

Ryan's parents want to know why he isn't more motivated? It's because you won't give him five seconds of peace. Leave him alone. They are creating a child who is going to spend a fortune in therapy when he is older. 

[Stella MD]

Some thoughts after just now watching the rerun of the previous weeks show.

 

-They're going to need to up their editing game, as twice in two weeks they've totally telegraphed who is going home. If they continue their current trend of showing the core group of kids who obviously make it pretty far in the competition (Katherine, Ryan, Tanishq, Graham, Vanya, Binyamin), plus one extra new kid every week, it's doesn't take a genius (child or otherwise) to guess why we're now talking about the new kid. Duh.

 

-I want to like Vanya's dad, and he's obviously pretty smart himself based on his off-the-cuff etymology lessons, but the water thing is starting to really creep me out. He's so demanding about it. She's clearly old enough to know when she's thirsty, and forcing someone to eat/drink when they don't want to crosses a line into weird abusiveness territory. Plus it's so random. WTF?

 

-Graham and his mom annoyed me considerably more on rewatch, as I didn't catch the first time that she flat-out encouraged him to give his stupid little speech to the judges for making him answer "controversial" questions. And his snotty eyerolls and dismissive labeling of anyone with a different belief system as "stupid" obviously comes from home as well. Guess you're worried those beliefs are pretty shaky if even having your kid in the same room with an opposite opinion causes you to panic, lady.

 

-I finally caught the intro to Binyamin's dad last night and now I'm as intrigued by his bleeped-out job as everyone else. CIA operative? Foreign assassin? Wannabe actor? Mall security cop with some really cool glamour shots? Ninja? The mind boggles.

 

-I liked the surgeon mom of the eliminated kid who scored zero two weeks ago, how she was able to maintain perspective that it's just a game and none of this actually matters. Ryan's parents should be forced to take mandatory lessons from her on appropriate and effective child-encouragement strategies (and I include Ryan's dad as an equal part of the problem, as he's shown in the confessionals that he's just as pushy and delusional as his wife, only less shrill). I'm genuinely worried that in a few years that kid is going to start doing drugs just to be able to tune out/piss off his awful parents.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Stella MD

[Dirtybubble]

Graham and his family are the worst type of Christian. They think that anybody who doesn't believe exactly as they do are wrong and "stupid".

I also hated how his mother said her family "knows" that god created the universe. No honey, that's what you believe, not what you know.

WORD!  People like that give Christians a bad name.  What happen to tolerance, isn't that part of Christianity?  Mom needs to just shut her pie hole and perhaps she may learn something.  Listen before you speak you cow!  This isn't just a learning opportunity for the children the parents could learn something about other cultures, religions, etc. if they just kept their traps shut!

 

Benyamin's dad scares the hell out of me

IKR?!  What is with that man?  What does he do for a living?  Is he a hired gunman? I love that he displayed open affection for his son and he never seems to come across as exceptionally aggresive when he's dealing with his son in the competition so idk, like Benyamin a lot.  So is he Jewish?  Is that a Kipa he is wearing?  His dad has an accent I can't place either.  Any ideas what country he is from?  Why is his mom not at any of the competition?  So many questions...

[JoannKB]

The Lifetime site says that Binyamin's Dad is the CEO of a security company (http://www.directmeasures.com/management-alon.htm) so I am not sure why they had to bleep that when he said it. Maybe they didn't want him advertising his company? 

[Dirtybubble]

Oh thanks JoannKB!  Ok so if you read his bio it makes a little more sense why it was bleeped out.  This is just one paragraph in a long line of stuff he's done.

Mr. Stivi is a member of FBI InfraGard®, the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), and a Training Advisor for the International Association of Counter Terrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP). He is a Board of Advisor member of the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs (CUSA) at the University of California in Irvine and a member of Generation Next (GenNext). He serves as a Reserve Deputy with the Los Angeles Sheriff Department, Emergency Operations Bureau (EOB) and is an active Terrorism Liaison Officer (TLO).

Wow.

[Gianthambeast]

In other words he's a professional bad ass...

[Dirtybubble]

LoL--yeah he's James Bond or even Jack Bauer =)

[fliptopbox]

i was going to suggest that maybe he was a diplomat and therefore could not talk about anything regarding his work or where he's from. But that all works too.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Besides, most of the questions had nothing to do with the actual "creation of the universe", they were asked facts about how things are today. Haley's Comet, planet distances/weights, etc. None of that had really anything to do with the beginning of life as we know it.

A topic that includes "creation of the universe" is usually called "cosmology"; "astronomy" is just what we can see out there, and that's all I heard for questions.

[Cheetosandchoc]

I liked Alon, and how he supports his son. Christian kid will likely be mortified when he grows up when he thinks about his performance. I get botherd by Christians thT focus on stupid crap like that instead of actually helping people. I don't have a problem with the kid and his family going to the judges. I don't remember, did he tell the judges or the parents? He stood up for himself, the other mom saying it took away from her kid...... If the tables were turned she would passive aggressively make sure EVeRYONE KNEW they were tied. So I like that they were upfront. The kid earned it, and it seemed to matter to him.

Most of all I want Ryan to turn to his mom and tell her to "fuck off" maybe even lose on purpose, by answering questions with random words. What's on billion divided by 12 minus 8? "RED monkey!" WHATS the Capitol of Beruit? "Jizz!" Who discoverd plutonium? "Curley armpit hair!"

[Maharincess]

I doubt if Graham will grow up and be mortified by saying that people who don't believe as he does are stupid. His mother seems to think the same thing.

Her saying that she "knows" that her god created the universe really pissed me off. You don't "know" shit dear. That is what you believe NOT what you know.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Maharincess

[Cheetosandchoc]

I think he will be embarrased for giving a speech denying the Big Bang. Or at least insisting that creation actually happened the way it was stated in the bible.

I think he problem with forcing kids to believe stupid things like Dinasours lived the same time as people or didn't exist, creationism in general they start to wonder what else they were wrong about. Not all Cristians believe in Creationism. I was stunned when I realized people actually believed Dino's never existed and fossils are fake.

[Katara]

Speaking of which, the other parents going back in with a huge shit-eating grin to make the judges re-calculate *third* place was a new low. Why did that remotely matter? Have some class.

 

 I fully disagree. As someone who used to be involved into such competitions as a child, it was very important for me that my position and my score were accurate and reflected closely my performace. I would have never been ok with losing a spot because of a jury error. I find their attitudes appropriate and supportive of Katherine. Plus, there is a difference beteween being in the 3rd (on the podium, bronze medal), and in the 4th.

[Dirtybubble]

I fully disagree. As someone who used to be involved into such competitions as a child, it was very important for me that my position and my score were accurate and reflected closely my performace. I would have never been ok with losing a spot because of a jury error. I find their attitudes appropriate and supportive of Katherine. Plus, there is a difference beteween being in the 3rd (on the podium, bronze medal), and in the 4th.

Rules is rules so yeah I can totally see where Katherine (and her parents) are coming from.  She earned 3rd place so she should get 3rd place.  And they were, IMO, nice to fill Tanishq's mom onto what was happening before they get called to see the moderator.  Them saying "we just want to keep Katherine happy" I don't really see anything wrong with that.  If she is the perfectionist she appears to be then little stuff like this would bug.  It would me as well if I had worked hard to be successful in this competition and then an error by the judges caused me to slip a spot.  Enh maybe it's my fondness for Katherine and her parents that are blinding me but I still like them both.

[slasherboy]

I can see Ryan going berserk one day and climbing up into a bell tower with an uzi.  Not being funny. He's seriously going to blow some day.

[Stella MD]

Seriously with the damn editing. Like anyone was surprised to see poor Wednesday Addams going home when she was the only new kid in the vignettes this week? I don't get why they're making it this obvious.

 

And while I'm trying my best to remember that these kids are still kids and will thus often fall short of adult norms of appropriate social behavior, I admit to doing a little fist pump when Tanishq squarely beat Katherine in the final tally. No whining your way out of this one, honey.