Eighth Grader Wins National Spelling Bee

AP via Yahoo! ^ | Thursday, May 29, 2003 | By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I believe he attends a private school.

A home schooler takes second place for the second year in a row. That much is certain.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I wouldn't give his private school the credit for his own determination and hard work.

Excellent point and well stated.

[Squantos]

Evelyn Blacklock, a 14-year-old eighth-grader who is home-schooled in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., was the runner-up

Whooo Hoooo !! Home School rules !!....Stay Safe !

[cgk]

Regarding your tagline--Bob Geldof said that? When? Where? In what context?

Yep, he sure did! (I cleaned it up, a bit and quoted Scarborough's paraphrase...) See why below... :)

"You'll think I'm off my trolley when I say this, but the Bush Administration is the most radical - in a positive sense - in its approach to Africa since Kennedy," Geldof, the organiser of the 1985 Live Aid concert, said on Tuesday at the start of his UNICEF-sponsored return visit to Ethiopia.

He compared Mr Bush favourably with his predecessor, Bill Clinton, who he said talked passionately about Africa, but did "f*** all".

Here's a link to the thread on the article I found today.

Geldof Back in Ethiopia (and Praises Bush) I heard about it last night, and was also pretty amazed, which is why I stuck it in my tag line. "Love Like a Rocket" was one of my old favorite songs and I thought I'd have to write him off like Bono.

[paulklenk]

I love, love, love the spelling bee! Those kids are adorable, smart, and hard working.

Years ago, I used to use winning words as my computer password. No one would ever guess it; plus, even if they overheard me saying it out loud, they'd never recognize the word, let alone be able to spell it.

Now, of course, it's foolish to use actual words as passwords, because computers can discover it by copying the encrypted version and comparing it endlessly to lists of hundreds of thousands of words until they get a match. Every password should contain upper and lower case letters, plus numbers and symbols.

[jagrmeister]

Congratulations to the winner and to ESPN for being willing to use some of their broadcast time to spotlight academic achievement.

[Dajjal]

Holy smokes, who comes up with these words??

Did they never sharee you ebro at skol, you antiabecedarian?

Apologies to James Joyce. :D

[Robert Drobot]

"Evelyn Blacklock, a 14-year-old eighth-grader who is home-schooled in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., was the runner-up.

[chance33_98]

It is unclear whether the winner was home-schooled.

Perhaps not, but I would guess most of his studying for this he did at home....

[ventana]

How long ago was this OldFriend? V's wife.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

"Probably a private Catholic school. I'm guessing all the kids from public school were discqualified when asked to spell constitution. I'm sure they wouldn't have ever seen or heard it before. "

I've got some good news for you; our public school district north of Peoria, Dunlap requires students to pass a Constitution test to graduate from 8th grade.

So all is not lost.

[Dudoight]

The winner is not home schooled. He attends St. Mark's School in Dallas. My sons attended this school as do now my grandsons. It is a wonderful school. But this kid's talent belongs to him, in my opinion, not the school.

[OldFriend]

Mid 90s.......but now our public high school is dumbed down completely and the drug use in our rural area is out of control. Pretty darn sad. All the best teachers left too....

[babble-on]

do you ever wonder if maybe spelling bee success might not be the best guide to the quality of someone's education?

[Emile]

If Sai Gunturi had attended a public school, he would still need to apply himself outside of class to learn the words; I wouldn't give his private school the credit for his own determination and hard work.

True enough. But isn't it just possible that the more rigorous the school academic environment, the more prepared, disciplined and motivated the student is to study and apply himself? In this respect, I believe the school deserves at least some indirect credit for the results. At the very least, it would sure explain the presence of non-government school children at the top of these competitions well out of proportion to their numbers in the general population.

[Capt.YankeeMike]

ref: your post #17. PHOOEY and BALONEY and MALARKEY. Private schooled kids and home schooled kids blow the public scrools out of the water in every category.

[eleni121]

I was runner up from my district twice (2nd and 3rd grades)and I still remember the words that tripped me up: granary---which I spelled "grainery" and independence which I spelled "independance".

I do not remember why I didn't try out again but I am still haunted by what might have been.

[CyberCowboy777]

Unfortunately you overlook the very purpose of public schools vs. private/home schools.

Public schools do not teach to learn, they do not teach to think. You are a number, a dollar amount and they must cram a certain amount of information into your head by graduation. Some will achieve to the low standards of public schools, others will blossom in college, most will become average citizens who don't vote and never realize the potential inside. The breakdown of our society shows this clearly.

You can spray whatever perfume you want on public ed. as it is today, it still stinks.

Our schools have been scientifically designed to prevent over-education from happening...The average American [should be] content with their humble role in life, because they're not tempted to think about any other role."
- William Harris, U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1889

[sharktrager]

Honestly, the trend is that these kids' parents spend large amounts of the educational time on these areas, specifically for the competitions. I really don't see that as indicative of quality.

[tom h]

The winner was not homeschooled but he definitely comes from a traditional family -- father is an engineer, mother at home governing the day-to-day affairs of the family.

What is more telling is that you never hear that these children come from liberal families. Have you ever heard that the "winner's father is an environmental activist, and his mother is a feminist lawyer"?