The problem with the spelling bee is that it proves nothing whatsoever about intelligence or what education system is best.
Being a championship speller doesn’t mean you can write a meaningful essay about anything or that you will save the world from whatever. All it means is that you spent incredible amounts of time memorizing lists and that you understand how words are put together. You are exceptional in some areas, but what does it mean in the end?
To some degree, it also means you were lucky. A recent champ, maybe last year’s, I can’t remember, said there were numerous words she couldn’t have spelled, but none were given to her. If one of those words had fallen on her turn, she would have been out.
Home school victory ping:
5/15 finalists were home schoolers, and a home schooler won it .... again.
“Being a championship speller doesn’t mean you can write a meaningful essay about anything ..... “
I guess you missed the part where he was at the SF Conservatory with a group of fellow students playing his composition ? Or talking about the piano concerto he wrote ? Or about his writing his compositions (notes) in numerical formulas? This kid was not just lucky ... he has a brilliant mind that goes beyond memorization.
This kid also has a black belt in karate, so that’s another whole area of expertise and discipline. And he’s what? 14? He comes from a middle class family and was given a great gift from his Creator that he is using.
Let’s not be so cynical and cheer him on.
That’s why it’s a “spelling bee” not a “who is the smartest” contest. Whoever spells the best wins the..you know..spelling bee.
Does your household benefit monetarily in any way from the police enforced, compulsory, monopoly, government schools?
It is becoming plainly evident that homeschooling is the superior way to educate and raise up a child. This year’s National Geography and Spelling Bee winners are simply tiny pebbles among mountains of evidence.
It is a shame but not every parent can homeschool. Their child will need to be institutionalized.
It's a useful skill. Just one of many, but useful. The National Geographic Geography Bee probably tests skills that will be more important later in life, not to mention math competitions. And robotics competitions -- those are amazing to watch. The spelling bee has a longer history, though, and more parents who remember their own participation.
At any rate, spelling -- and learning etymologies, which is a head start to both figuring out unfamiliar words and learning other languages -- are far more useful skills than being able to run fast, hit a baseball or put a ball through a hoop. And I salute first ESPN and then ABC for giving prime time air to a competition that rewards studying. It's a good thing for the kids in the audience to see.
To some degree, it also means you were lucky. A recent champ, maybe last year’s, I can’t remember, said there were numerous words she couldn’t have spelled, but none were given to her. If one of those words had fallen on her turn, she would have been out.
Luck definitely plays a factor in any competition -- the only way to avoid that would be to put everyone in an isolation booth and give everyone the same words. I take part in a lot of trivia contests, and there's always an element of chance in whether we happen to get questions we know.
But luck tends to even out over time, and every kid who made it to the finals -- maybe every kid who made it to the nationals -- is in the top percentile.
Boo hoo. A public school kid didn’t win. It would have been a different song if one had.
Those kids that make it are the cream of the crop.