Va. girl anything but 'efficient' at national bee; 41 spellers ...

Deborah Horton made the most of her time in the national spelling spotlight. She greeted the officials with a perky "hello" on Wednesday and asked every question imaginable about a word she could spell in her sleep.

[TIRED OF PAYING]

It would be interesting to see the demographic breakdown of the 41 finalists. As well as information on 1 or 2 parent home, private, public, or home school.

[local9]

TIRED OF PAYING wrote:

It would be interesting to see the demographic breakdown of the 41 finalists. As well as information on 1 or 2 parent home, private, public, or home school.

... not to mention the percentage whose parents immigrated here after childhood. It's common for dedicated newcomers to become more familiar with the language and geography of their adopted setting, than people with longer family histories there who can take more for granted and at a more leisurely pace of knowledge. Such children are not a representative sample of our youth.

[Teach76]

Kennyi is smart and very entertaining. What a wonderful young man. He will definately do well in the future.

[Teach76]

OOOps, I meant definitely.

[Richie Daley]

I grew up in Chicago and went to the finest schools and lerned spelling good enuf to become Major. Got any publik property I can sell?

[turf doc]

I speak four languages, and these words are beyond me. Great job to all the contestants, take a bow, you earned it!

[Indian]

I was surprised (well- not really) how many Indian's there were.

I read she wants to be a neurosurgeon. She will most likely become one.

I am sort of surprised at the word she won with. It is used a couple times in the New Testament in the Bible. Most of the words they had I had never ever heard of before but this one I had. Odd.

Good job!

[ritab]

How about a nod to the Springfield girl and Peoria boy who finished second (tie) and fourth respectively.

Nice job you two--way to represent Illinois!

[ProfessorGAC]

ritab wrote:

How about a nod to the Springfield girl and Peoria boy who finished second (tie) and fourth respectively.
Nice job you two--way to represent Illinois!

Good call! Congrats to both of them. 2nd and 4th is pretty, pretty good stuff.

[TamoraRose]

They all are to be congratulated!

[Schaumburgian]

The poor Indian girl who misspelled "Menhir". That was the easiest word, especially when she had spelled much harder words before. I bet she read Asterix comics, Obelix works on menhirs all the time.

[Scott]

Spelling bees - what a waste of brainpower - spelling works you'll never use.

How about spending the same time studying some useful academics?

[Scott]

(I meant 'words' not 'works')

Maybe I should spend some time studying typing :-)

[TamoraRose]

Scott, you get a point for being good spirited about your mistake!

Like most things, it's not JUST about the subject at hand. It's about self discipline. Besides, you actually have to learn a lot about a number of source languages in order to know things like when the sound means "y" and when it means "ei" (which is what tripped up that one kid). There's a lot more to it than just rote memorization.

[School Teacher]

I know what I am about to say is not very politically correct, but it is based upon 33 years of teaching. I was a school teacher in Chicago for 22 years and then taught 11 years in Niles.

What I observed is that generally speaking, Korans, Indians, and Chinese parents really stress the value of education in their home and their extended family does that too. Also, they come from two parent households and they are very disciplined. Asians have an extended family system and uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc... all take an interest in raising the younger generation.

As a percentage, Asians are highly represented in our finest upper educational institutions; M.I.T., University of Chicago, The Ivy League schools, etc...

Having a strong nuclear/extended family and discipline matter folks!

[School Teacher]

Oops, above should read "Koreans" and NOT Korans.

[M Bauder]

She's from Kansas like I'm from Mumbai. Where are the American kids?

[Idaho Sox Fan]

I have never gotten the point of the spelling bee, at least not the national contest. So these kids waste hours and hours learning to spell words that no one uses or even know the meaning of, and at the same time develop zero social skills? Maybe instead of learning how to spell all of these bizarre words, they can go back to the homeland and teach their countrymen and women how to speak English so that when I call the motor club for assistance I don't have to waste an hour explaining where I am at.

[Indian-American]

School Teacher wrote:

I know what I am about to say is not very politically correct, but it is based upon 33 years of teaching. I was a school teacher in Chicago for 22 years and then taught 11 years in Niles.
What I observed is that generally speaking, Korans, Indians, and Chinese parents really stress the value of education in their home and their extended family does that too. Also, they come from two parent households and they are very disciplined. Asians have an extended family system and uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc... all take an interest in raising the younger generation.
As a percentage, Asians are highly represented in our finest upper educational institutions; M.I.T., University of Chicago, The Ivy League schools, etc...
Having a strong nuclear/extended family and discipline matter folks!

Why is this not PC? This is the truth. I was born in the US, but raised mostly in India but live in the US and I am emphasizing this to my 4 year old. I want him to be the best in class. He can chase girls, and fool around AS LONG AS he does his school work and well.
I don't see this ethic in most white families. Girls and boys here just want to be popular.

[Indian-American]

Idaho Sox Fan wrote:

I have never gotten the point of the spelling bee, at least not the national contest. So these kids waste hours and hours learning to spell words that no one uses or even know the meaning of, and at the same time develop zero social skills? Maybe instead of learning how to spell all of these bizarre words, they can go back to the homeland and teach their countrymen and women how to speak English so that when I call the motor club for assistance I don't have to waste an hour explaining where I am at.

Typical American justifying his incompetence by making semi-racial comments. Now wonder this country is sinking.