Why do Indian-Americans win spelling bee contests?

BBC ^ | 30 May 2016 | Sanjoy Chakravorthy

[Tax-chick]

Get rid of quotas and extra efforts to recruit people into areas that they aren’t necessarily interested or talented in, and individuals will go as far as their own skills take them.

I agree. However, it would be interesting, just for its own sake, to know whether achievement in spelling bees reflects an aptitude for, say, visual recognition, or whether it's strictly effort, driven by family pressure to achieve in this particular way.

When I was a spelling bee competitor (early 1980s) the winners tended to be Korean, which leads me to believe that effort is it, rather than genetics at the ethnic-group level. Individuals, on the other hand ... comparing Indian spelling-bee winners with Indian robotics-competition winners could be interesting.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I’ve been told that if you go to any college library on a Friday or Saturday night, most of the faces you see will be from India and Southeast Asia.

[9YearLurker]

Smart people tend to respect disciplines that involve intelligence—and to believe in their ability to do well in them.

[School of Rational Thought]

Consider the names. Say, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. You’d get good at spelling too.

bump

[9YearLurker]

Oh, and rote learning, discipline, and competition have traditionally been critical to academic and professional success in their home lands as well.

[combat_boots]

The two Pittsburgh Pirates guys. The million-dollar arms.

[gasport]

Academic discipline in the HOME.

[9YearLurker]

Ha ha.

[9YearLurker]

Do you think it is just coincidence that those groups have gone in those directions?

[Pearls Before Swine]

I sense a case of disparate impact here. Somebody call the DOJ.

[9YearLurker]

Intelligence and memory tend to be very closely related:

http://trendingsideways.com/index.php/what-does-memory-have-to-do-with-intelligence/

[Ted Grant]

I think Indian families focus on the importance of academics, and that’s a good thing.

As for spelling bees, the truth is that they require no intelligence, creativity, or original thinking. They’re primarily contests of memorization, discipline, and endurance. All three can be trained with minimal investment. Spelling contests are comparatively easy, provided the person has the basic tools and develops then.

[Original Lurker]

That was my first thought just from reading the headline.

[Vaquero]

Must be the Indian equivalent of the Chinese Tiger Mom.

Disciplining ones children is considered child abuse in America.

[Jeff Chandler]

Say, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

Or Samir Nagheenanajar.

[ameribbean expat]

Call Biden too. Somewhere in Delaware a Dunkin Donuts is missing its proprietor.

[Cronos]

it's history and culture that defines -- the groups that for centuries saw knowledge as a way to succeed are the ones that are the brainiest:

• European Jews (not so much Yemeni Jews) that for centuries were not allowed to farm or other trades and just had to live off their wits
• Indian brahmins and vaishyas (trader) castes
• Chinese mandarin families
• Armenian traders

And then there are groups where you had to be physically strong and athletic to succeed:

• Maoris, Samoans are stronger and bigger than their cousins the Filipinos as one HAD to be strong to survive
• Sub-saharan Africans who were taken as slaves were chosen for their physical capabilities and only the hardiest survived the journey and the slave life, so native-African-origin peoples dominate physical sports in the USA except running long distance
• Ethiopians and SOmalis for long-distance running

Even if you narrow this to just European-origin peoples you would find that Germanics and Nordics are stronger than Italians or GReeks

[Jeff Chandler]

Consider the names.

Then why don't Greeks win more spelling bees?

[Daffynition]

2016 NatGeo Geography Bee.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/2016/05/25/geo-bee/01-national-geographic-bee-winner.ngsversion.1464199898023.jpg

[chajin]

I would be interested to see a study of spelling bee winners over the last few decades -- just to see what they had accomplished later in life.

Here's one:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/news/ct-dhd-1985-spelling-champion-20150520-story.html