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School district cancels spelling bee (Check out the reason why they canceled it)
Woonsocket (RI) Call ^ | January 27, 2005 | Ronald R. Blais

Posted on 01/28/2005 1:36:32 PM PST by Constitutionalist Conservative

LINCOLN -- Karen Adams always enjoyed receiving her invitation. The WPRI-TV news anchorwoman and Lincoln resident looked forward to penciling in the school district’s spelling bee in her appointment calendar.
 
But there’s no note in her calendar this year. The Lincoln district has decided to eliminate this year’s spelling bee -- a competition involving pupils in grades 4 through 8, with each school district winner advancing to the state competition and a chance to proceed to the national spelling bee in Washington, D.C.

Through the years, it had become a tradition for Adams to pronounce and define spelling words used in the bee.

"It was just fun," she said last Monday from her office at the television studio.

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Newman said the decision to scuttle the event was reached shortly after the January 2004 bee in a unanimous decision by herself and the district’s elementary school principals.

The administrators decided to eliminate the spelling bee, because they feel it runs afoul of the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

"No Child Left Behind says all kids must reach high standards," Newman said. "It’s our responsibility to find as many ways as possible to accomplish this."

The administrators agreed, Newman said, that a spelling bee doesn’t meet the criteria of all children reaching high standards -- because there can only be one winner, leaving all other students behind.

"It’s about one kid winning, several making it to the top and leaving all others behind. That’s contrary to No Child Left Behind," Newman said.

A spelling bee, she continued, is about "some kids being winners, some kids being losers."

As a result, the spelling bee "sends a message that this isn’t an all-kids movement," Newman said.

Furthermore, professional organizations now frown on competition at the elementary school level and are urging participation in activities that avoid winners, Newman said. That’s why there are no sports teams at the elementary level, she said as an example.

The emphasis today, she said, is on building self-esteem in all students.

"You have to build positive self-esteem for all kids, so they believe they’re all winners," she said. "You want to build positive self-esteem so that all kids can get to where they want to go."

A spelling bee only benefits a few, not all, students, the elementary principals and Newman agreed, so it was canceled.

While she concedes she’s not familiar with the specifics of No Child Left Behind, Adams, nevertheless, is befuddled by the school department’s decision.

"I don’t see where that (No Child Left Behind) has anything to do with a spelling bee. It was just a fun time," Adams said.

Winning a spelling bee, she added, "just meant you were a good speller."

One aspect she enjoyed about participating in her hometown spelling bee was the openness of the competition.

"It’s not always the straight "A" student who wins the spelling bee," she said.

A spelling bee also is a chance for children to shine before their peers, family and friends, Adams points out.

"It’s a big deal for the kids. It’s a nice recognition for them," she said.

Competing in a spelling bee is also a learning experience, the anchorwoman believes. "It was fun for the kids because it gave them poise and confidence to stand in front of a crowd."

Adams admits she’ll miss the bee.

"I just loved the kids. They were so cute. My heart broke every time a kid missed," she said. "I really enjoyed it."

Adams wasn’t the only one caught off guard by the spelling bee’s cancellation.

"I had no idea this (spelling bee) was called off," School Committee Chairman Jeff Weiss said last Friday.

The chairman reserved further comment until he could get more information. "I have no comment because I don’t know what’s going on," the chairman said.

Canceling the spelling bee is an administrative decision that doesn’t require School Committee approval, Newman said.

Karen Martin, whose daughter, Brianna, won last year’s bee, said she was surprised the bee had been eliminated, describing its cancellation as "strange."

Although her daughter was nervous, Martin believes it was a good experience for Brianna. "It was exciting to go to the state competition," the mother said.

Like Adams, Martin said she’ll miss the bee.

"I’m disappointed. I thought it was a fun activity," she said.

The administrators’ decision to eliminate the bee wasn’t a difficult one, Newman said.

"There was no debate at all. It was one of the easiest decisions," the assistant superintendent said because "there was no question among the administrators" that a spelling bee was "contrary to the expectations" of No Child Left Behind.
 


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; US: Rhode Island
KEYWORDS: education; nclb
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To: OldFriend

If the parents in this district put up with this...


21 posted on 01/28/2005 1:47:10 PM PST by mewzilla (Has CBS retracted the story yet?)
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To: TheBigB

I can't believe I live in this state.


22 posted on 01/28/2005 1:47:45 PM PST by JimWforBush
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative
"It’s about one kid winning, several making it to the top and leaving all others behind. That’s contrary to No Child Left Behind," Newman said.

Huh, I thought it was about all the children competing. You know, like a race, where only one kid wins, but every kid is healthier because they ran the race.

If brains were dynamite, these people wouldn't have enough to blow their nose.

23 posted on 01/28/2005 1:48:05 PM PST by narby ( A truly Intelligent Designer, would have designed Evolution)
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Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: CAluvdubya

Oh for the love of Pete! No wonder people think we are nutballs!!
BTW I played games in class, and {gasp} I actually let them win prizes! If you didn't study and didn't know any of the answers you didn't win anything. Kind of like real life.
sundero


25 posted on 01/28/2005 1:50:37 PM PST by brytlea
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To: Brilliant

That was my thought, too. If the administrators are too dumb to understand what the program means, how can they possibly be trusted to put it into effect?


26 posted on 01/28/2005 1:50:39 PM PST by livius
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative

Liberal leftist thinking. Sounds like a bunch of demoncRATS found a way to make news with their political correctness gone amuck.


27 posted on 01/28/2005 1:50:51 PM PST by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative

This is such crap. The point that "it's not always the straight-A student" who wins is a valid one.

Different kids are good at different things. Sometimes the kid who isn't good at most things really shines in a particular area. By eliminating competition, we make sure that the kid with a unique talent will never get any recognition.

When I was a kid, I was one of the ones who was picked for teams last, or close to last. Except when we had "college bowl" type events in Junior high social studies class. These were usually one class against the other, twenty kids on a side, where the teacher would ask curriculum related questions. My class always won these events, because I was usually the first one with an answer to about a quarter to a third of the questions, and I was usually correct.

I can remember one time getting off to an unusually bad start, and kids who never would have picked me for a sports team were complaining that I wasn't carrying the team. To my relief and theirs I hit my stride about half way through, and we won that day, too.

No competition means some kids are never going to have a chance to show what they are good at. How does that help self-esteem?


28 posted on 01/28/2005 1:51:56 PM PST by Flash Bazbeaux ("I'll have the moo goo gai pan without the pan, and some pans.")
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative

I think maybe we should consider "no teacher left behind".
These teachers and administrators are obviously digging in their heels to try and defeat the president's initiative. I remember when Reagan was confronted by such a revolt in the air traffic controllers union he just fired them all and it solved the whole problem. Now Bush can't fire elementary school principals but he might be able to cut off federal funding to asinine school districts.


29 posted on 01/28/2005 1:51:57 PM PST by oldbrowser (You lost the election...........get over it)
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative

So the way to build self esteem is to never let the kids compete?

What happens to their self esteem when they enter the real world?


30 posted on 01/28/2005 1:52:06 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative

I studied my butt off to get in a district spelling bee in the fifth grade. I made it quite a ways, but I didn't win. Did I feel like a loser for that? Hell no, I was proud to have been selected, then to have made it that far.

Every kid who even gets into a spelling bee is a winner, a concept lost on these PC idiots.


31 posted on 01/28/2005 1:52:16 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative
It is so obvious that the school administrators used Bush's education initiative as an excuse to cancel a popular local event just so they could stick a thumb into his eye. EVERY public school teacher I've talked to in the last year absolutely hates Bush's NCLB plan, and mock him and it.

What really gets them upset is that Bush has taken a lot of their teaching freedom away -- and for good reason, because, in general, it was not getting results. This was the only way the school could get back at him. I know many administrators are idiots, but even they are not stupid enough to actually believe the logic they put forward in this story and with those ridiculous quotes.

This is all a power-play. A way to embarass Bush. Guess what, dummies. You failed.

32 posted on 01/28/2005 1:52:16 PM PST by seamus
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To: TheBigB

Can a not-for-profit organization that focus on education take over?


33 posted on 01/28/2005 1:52:19 PM PST by paudio (Four More Years..... Let's Use Them Wisely...)
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To: lilylangtree

...Sounds like a bunch of demoncRATS found a way to make news with their political correctness gone amuck...

They weren't hired to play politics, but that's exactly what they are doing.


34 posted on 01/28/2005 1:53:01 PM PST by planekT
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To: FrPR

An excellent idea. I went into teaching late in life and knew other people who had done other things and then decided to teach prior to retiring for good. Most of them were WONDERFUL teachers. All of the education classes they made me take were a waste of time (well, except for a couple of days when they taught us how to put a lesson plan together, that was helpful).
And I was fortunate to teach in a state that did not have teachers unions.
sundero


35 posted on 01/28/2005 1:53:09 PM PST by brytlea
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative
Have the educators of the nation lost their collective minds, this kind of thinking is the reason I am opposed to female teachers and worse yet,female administrators, its the women in education who consistently come up with this crap!!! If education wasn't female dominated it would not be like this!! Women should be wholesale tossed out of eduction before they ruin the nation...
36 posted on 01/28/2005 1:54:15 PM PST by aspiring.hillbilly
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To: B4Ranch

That's not what the program means, and you know it. Or at least I hope you do.

The administrators, on the other hand, are too dumb to be trusted with a dime of federal money (which is given to bring kids UP to standards, not bring the standards down to the current lousy level of the kids). But failing schools hate this program anyway, because kids have to pass actual, objective tests to see if they are really learning anything, and this makes school administrators and the teachers unions quake in fear.


37 posted on 01/28/2005 1:54:27 PM PST by livius
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative
... because there can only be one winner

38 posted on 01/28/2005 1:55:19 PM PST by evets (God bless president George W. Bush)
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative

My brother WON a spelling bee and he ended up on drugs, so I don't think a spelling bee would have that much effect on self-esteem.


39 posted on 01/28/2005 1:55:20 PM PST by JZelle
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative
You have to build positive self-esteem for all kids, so they believe they’re all winners," she said. "You want to build positive self-esteem so that all kids can get to where they want to go."

+++Thrown into a highly competitive world, totally unprepared for the reality that no one gives a flying sh*t about their self esteem will insure these poor kids go through their pitiful lives confused and depressed.

Imagine their reaction when their boss denies them a raise and a promotion without the least thought for their precious self esteem.
40 posted on 01/28/2005 1:55:38 PM PST by JoeV1 (The Democrats-The unlawful and corrupt leading the uneducated and blind)
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