Reply to Scripps national spelling bee

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think it is a mistake to have 8 winners.  It is part of our superlative and qualitative culture where every kid gets a ribbon and we don't want anyone to feel like they lost or left out.  I don't see why those 8 are more special and deserving than the other thousand or so who were defeated earlier in the competition.  The children should keep being quizzed on words until there is a winner.  IMO it is a big mistake to award the championship to 8 children.[/quote]

NP. I've got no particular stake in this as I didn't see the Bee, but apparently this wasn't a case of "everyone gets a trophy." The rounds kept going and going -- and no one was taking a fall.

They either had to keep spelling until physical stamina, and not spelling ability, became the sole deciding factor, or they had to pick a specific time to call it done and give first place status to anyone who was still standing at that point in time. Not ideal, I think, but also [i]not[/i] at all due to any mushy "every kid gets a ribbon and we dont' want anyone to feel left out" attitude. All eight kids were basically unbeatable at that moment when the competition had to end. Crazy but good for them.

I looked at the link from earlier about how to "buy your way in" to the Bee. If I read it correctly, it appears that these parents who want to send a kid do at least have to have the kid at a school that participates in this official program (or be part of some homeschooling that participates in the official nationwide program). That's at least a bit better than I had first thought, because some reports made it sound as if any family could just cough up dough and send a kid directly to the national competition with zero previous affiliation with the Bee as a program. Still, I don't like the idea that a kid might be able to bypass lower-level bees at any point going up the ladder; the rules sound as if kids can get on that ladder at a higher point than their own school spelling bee. But I might be misreading.

Our family is involved in a national level academic competition (not a spelling competition) and the rules are that you cannot participate except as part of a school-based team. Homeschoolers can participate, I'm pretty sure, but must be part of an officially constituted team of homeschoolers that follows all the same rules and goes through the same competitions. So -- no "local school" participation means a student cannot jump in participate solo or join a team that's from a different, participating school. I know the Bee is individual and not team competition, but the general idea of the competition we do is: Your school has to be part of the structure' that's your entrée into the program. I thought the Bee was like that and the rules seem to indicate it but I'm not sure. Any Bee parents out there who know? 
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