As far as the kid goes, a lot of his contributions are on reviving calculation methods derived from olden-age Arabic work on number theory. Where some may debate the validity of his contributions, I find that he's just more inclined towards improving on how mathematics is taught. It's still a good thing, just that it makes him a lot less grand than he's made out to be.

Personally, I'm more annoyed by that professor's response. How on Earth can he say the kid speaks 8 languages and then go on to say different variants of English with a straight face? You don't have to be an English major to know that statement sounds fishy.