What is the P-O-I-N-T?
Do Spelling Bees serve a purpose anymore? I mean this seriously, and not from the perspective of some wingnuts out there.
Spelling bees are nothing more than memory competitions. Students learn how to spell words that even the most educated students out there do not use in their everyday vernacular. And even then, they often do not even know what the words mean (how many times do you see competitors ask for the definition of the word?).
And on top of it, the Scripps National Spelling Bee seems to be getting more and more specialized, won by students whose aim is to win the spelling bee. Look at the final words through the history of the bee. Until the 1950's, the final words were words that students could be expected to use at some point in their lives; therapy, insouciant, initials, condominium. Now, take a look at the ones in this decade; succedaneum, prospicience, pococurante, autochthonous, appoggiatura, and now ursprache. Two of those words aren't even included in the spellchecker for Microsoft Word.
Just because you know how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism does not mean you know what antidisestablishmentarianism is.
Spelling bees are useful to the point of enhancing memory skills. But even the National Geography Bee (and yes, I was the 1993 Chesapeake Bay Middle School champion) gives students the opportunity to learn geographic concepts that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.
I just hope that the usefulness of these bees is not being lost to the point that the students involved are missing out on learning key concepts and critical thinking skills useful in their life.
Spelling bees are nothing more than memory competitions. Students learn how to spell words that even the most educated students out there do not use in their everyday vernacular. And even then, they often do not even know what the words mean (how many times do you see competitors ask for the definition of the word?).
And on top of it, the Scripps National Spelling Bee seems to be getting more and more specialized, won by students whose aim is to win the spelling bee. Look at the final words through the history of the bee. Until the 1950's, the final words were words that students could be expected to use at some point in their lives; therapy, insouciant, initials, condominium. Now, take a look at the ones in this decade; succedaneum, prospicience, pococurante, autochthonous, appoggiatura, and now ursprache. Two of those words aren't even included in the spellchecker for Microsoft Word.
Just because you know how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism does not mean you know what antidisestablishmentarianism is.
Spelling bees are useful to the point of enhancing memory skills. But even the National Geography Bee (and yes, I was the 1993 Chesapeake Bay Middle School champion) gives students the opportunity to learn geographic concepts that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.
I just hope that the usefulness of these bees is not being lost to the point that the students involved are missing out on learning key concepts and critical thinking skills useful in their life.
posted by Brian Griffiths at 10:24 AM
1 Comments:
Your point is not lost on me, but the reason that spelling bee words have become more and more arcane is due to the nature of competition itself. As is true in sports, the bar gets raised constantly by competitive kids and their parents. The reason "succedaneum" makes the grade as an appropriate spelling-bee word now instead of "initials" is due to the fact that every kid in that bee can spell "initials" in their sleep at this stage of the competition.
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