I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but if my son came to me with the same question, here is what I would say to him...
Stu, tell me...
Have you ever tried cutting a piece of wood into small and fairly intricate shapes? Accurately?
Have you ever tried to assemble something that comprises anywhere between 50 and 250 pieces?
Do you think that you could?
Good-oh, then here is a simple kit. Let's see you get that to fly.
And I would hand him the bits for a freeflight hand launch glider
I am just starting out in the RC world too. I have been building since I was eight (my first chuckie), my first scratch build at 13, my first OD at thirty-mumble.
I am now fifty something, I am just beginning in RC, and quite frankly it scares the ***** out of me.
Don't get yourself in the position of taking on something you won't handle. Try something that is simple, that is comparatively easy, and most important of all that you can learn from without spending megabucks of your parents money on.