Scripps national spelling bee
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Anonymous
| Anyone watching? Who’s the guy reading the words? He’s got amazing stamina. I’d be slurring my words at this point. |
Anonymous
| OP here--did no one watch? I stayed up late and thought it was great, but I'm a nerd, lol. |
Anonymous
| I didn't watch, but with 8 winners and the host "running out of hard words" it must have been a great competition! |
Anonymous
| I watched until about 11, I forget what round it was. Happy to see a kid from MD as one of the co-winners! |
Anonymous
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Watched until 10:15 at which point I went to bed. Woke up to the news about 8 winners. Crazy.
The girl whose mom made her custom outfits with bees... that was quite a trip. |
Anonymous
| OP here. I was falling asleep but watched until the end. Showed my kid and husband the last round this morning on Youtube--such a cool outcome with all 8 winners. |
Anonymous
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Had a school event last night and completely forgot it was on. Neat to see the 8 co-champions this morning.
The bee has lost some its charm, though and while last night's winners was really cool, I hope it doesn't become the norm. I hope it goes back to a single winner or at least two winners. If the bee keeps having multiple co-champions, that will really make it lose even more charm. |
Anonymous
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The reason there were so many winners is that you can now buy your way into the spelling bee. I am no longer interested in watching. A parent can pay $1500 to compete. The spelling bee should only be comprised of winners of their regional tournament.
http://spellingbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-files/RSVBee%20FAQ%20expanded%20list%202019.pdf |
Anonymous
| It seems very costly. |
Anonymous
| I watched it till the bitter end. It was fantastic. The fact that you can buy your way in has no effect on the number of winners. They wouldn't all be there if they didn't know their stuff. I think it is reflective of how advanced the prep is and how skilled these kids are at taking words apart. If you listen and listen to the questions they ask you can see that it isn't really about spelling as much as it is linguistics. I think they gave up because they had all proven that they know how to master the art. Any more would have been a test of endurance not of skill. Good on them. |
Anonymous
OP here. Yes, not sure that's very fair. Also, the kids seem to be spending huge amounts of time preparing, which probably isn't healthy for most kids. This article sums up that sentiment: "Once a paean to an increasingly obsolete skill, a delightful competition that could be won by correctly spelling “croissant,” the spelling bee has turned into a f*g nightmare. To become a champion speller these days, kids must study dozens of hours every week, and it’s become so hyper-competitive that parents now hire private coaches to train their kids to do well in the spelling bee; coaching is almost a requirement for those who wish to advance to the final rounds. Elite spellers “spend practically every waking hour studying in preparation for this moment,” in the words of the Washington Post." https://jezebel.com/im-not-afraid-to-say-the-spelling-bee-is-sucks-1835146521 |
Anonymous
Are you equally critical of the kids in travel soccer? |
Anonymous
OP here--the above was a quote from an article, not exactly my sentiments. But if the spelling bee (or any other activity--soccer, competitive gymnastics, etc.) requires "dozens of hours a week," that does seem excessive unless the kid is exceptionally driven and passionate about that particular pursuit. Maybe these 8 kids are. But as a parent, I'd want to look at the tradeoffs carefully before allowing my kid to commit to something like that. |
Anonymous
No. That's not why there were 8 winners. While you can buy your way into the competition, you can't buy your way into the national finals. I agree that only the regional winners should compete in the national bee but there are times when there are multiple regional winners who deserve to compete on the national level. The reason why there were 8 winners is because it has become such a process (coaches, 100% involvement, etc.) and many families have perfected that process. It took many years but I think this is what we're going to see for the foreseeable future. |
Anonymous
At least in a sport you can improve your fitness. The words they are required to spell will never be used again in their lives. The kids don't even know/or care what the words mean. They've just mastered the process at arriving at the correct spelling...and just plain old memorization. Impressive but useless. |