Spelling/Geography bee contests for elementary kids - pros and cons

[boca]

Congrats!



Earlier, it was Aadith Moorthy, who bagged the 2010 National Geographic Bee. Congrats!

[Desi]

Eight out of last 12 winners have Indian origins. Prior to that, Indian origin winners were in 1985 and 1988 only.

[BeeAndButterfly]

Hi,
The local elementary school sent us some info about participating in a spelling and geography bee contests for second graders. I was wondering how members feel about these contests at such young age. I searched if there is any related thread and didnt find any, so thought of staring one for discussion.

I used to feel that these spelling/geography bees are overrated. What is the use putting kids under stress to spell some strange/exotic/rarely used words to test their knowledge. how does it help in assessing the kids language or knowledge. But many of my friends swear by them and insist that participating in these contests actually improved their own kids educational standards. I would appreciate if you can share your (or your kids) experiences with these contests and how they affected - positively or negatively - their overall education and/or confidence.

Thanks.

Some kids seem to be naturally competitive. Preparing them for competitions would play into their strengths if the domain (spelling or geography) is of interest to them.

[Desi]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5250909 (best of the bee).

[BeeAndButterfly]

Karthik Mouli, the third place holder in the geography bee is also an indo-american.

[BeeAndButterfly]

Intel science award, third prize

..Akhil Mathew, an 18-year-old from New Jersey who took home $50,000 for his work with Deligne categories, a method for studying various algebraic structures with ties to theoretical physics....

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10469016-76.html

[soxfan]

A nice article in WSJ about bees and its popularity among Indian Americans:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704545004575353693299232142.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_RIGHTInDepthCarousel_1
(titled: "Winning Bees spells glory for Indian kids on the ethnic circuit - South Asian program churns out champs; one on one with Shaquille O'neal")

[dotnetguru]

Eight out of last 12 winners have Indian origins. Prior to that, Indian origin winners were in 1985 and 1988 only.

Now 9 of 13 winners. last 3 winners are girls of indian origins. pretty amazing. looks like our folks cracked the code of spelling bee.there should be some logical way of preparing otherwise one cannot win this consistently.http://abcnews.go.com/US/sukanya-roy-wins-84th-scripps-national-spelling-bee/story?id=13749610

[cabo]

Now 9 of 13 winners. last 3 winners are girls of indian origins. pretty amazing. looks like our folks cracked the code of spelling bee.there should be some logical way of preparing otherwise one cannot win this consistently.http://abcnews.go.com/US/sukanya-roy-wins-84th-scripps-national-spelling-bee/story?id=13749610

Congrats to the winner.

As usual a lot of medical terminology was asked- maybe because of its latin connection. In the earlier rounds, even a pharmaceutical drug- " chlorthalidone" made an appearance, which is basically named after its chemical structure. Is this word in the dictionary? what else could this possibly mean? To me, it doesn't make any sense when such words figure in the competition.

[dotnetguru]

Congrats to the winner.

As usual a lot of medical terminology was asked- maybe because of its latin connection. In the earlier rounds, even a pharmaceutical drug- " chlorthalidone" made an appearance, which is basically named after its chemical structure. Is this word in the dictionary? what else could this possibly mean? To me, it doesn't make any sense when such words figure in the competition.

Since its the Scripps sponsored one and Scripps labs is big research lab out there for chemistry no wonder they ask those words...