The answer is not to buy great looking expensive kits,
Scratch build a soft foamie reinforce it with wooden spars and cover it with parcel tape, (I will describe how I did it, - with directions from a friend, - if anyone is interested), but it's basically similar to the inexpensive slope soarers (but with different type of spars). Very tough machines, good enough to learn on cheaply!
Go to the expensive ones if you want to, after you have learnt to fly on one of these simple contraptions.

If you are shunned by others who want to show off or be pompous, then learn by yourself (carefully, away from other people, and of course applying all the commonsense rules. ie. don't be bl***y stupid), and above all don't try to adjust your mixture through the prop!

I know, I did it this way! I'm still not a great flyer but I sure am happy to have done it the way I did.

PS: Todd, we must have been typing at the same time, and it looks like you pressed the button first! Thanks for the vote of confidence. I guess I would have bought one of your type of "indestructable kits" before someone showed me how to build the one I'm using - I liked the price!