On a side note, I find it sad that in this era of global economic competitiveness, where better and better jobs are being lost overseas, that the most celebrated intellectual competition in the US is a spelling bee.
How quaint.
I could not agree more. One would think that engineering or science competitions would get the nod, but, alas, it is not to be.
Jobs aren’t being lost overseas because they are smarter. They are dumber but work cheaper. So cheap they can hire two people to do the job of one American worker and still save money. Plus no benefits package.
Poor kid...She was leaving out all the vowels. We played "hangman" until she learned to "go for the vowels"! It worked. Silly simple game...a game MY TEACHER used when I was little.
My grandson learned Math from playing monopoly....and good sportmanship. He now backs off playing games with grandma....so he doesn't hurt my feelings. He refers to himself as "King Anthony" since he always beats me in checkers.
I don’t know about most celebrated. I think Jeopardy gets better ratings than the spelling bees.
Many schools now have geography bees. :)
National spelling bee top prize: $30,000
Siemens Westinghouse Math/Sci/Tech top prize:
$100,000 individual + $100,000 team
GE/Science young life science top prize:
$25,000
The viewing appeal of the spelling bee over a science fair is that the winner is objectively the best competitor rather than subjectively as in a judged event, and that the event is accessible for a broader (non-technical) audience.
I’m not sure why academic decathlon isn’t more popular. I find it a lot more interesting than the spelling bee.