
Indian Americans Came to Dominate the National Spelling Bee - rchaudhary
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-shankar-national-spelling-bee-indian-americans-20190530-story.html
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lostmymind66
It's not just Indian Americans. It's other students of immigrants as well. My
belief is that it's because their families instill education from a young age
as a path to success and this is ingrained in the culture.

You don't see this nearly as often in the US. Instead, we look up to movie
stars and sports figures.

When I was a kid, I won every classroom spelling bee I was in and would almost
always make it to the school finals (but never the nationals). The majority of
students didn't even try or care that much, so competition was really easy at
the classroom level.

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eesmith
How does studying several hours per day for a spelling bee, for years, lead to
an improved education?

I mean, I can see how there would be some advantages, but wouldn't it be
better to spend that same effort on a broader range of academic study?

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talonx
I don't think the OP is implying that becoming stars at spelling bee by
studying several hours per day leads to better educated kids.

It is the process, the principles behind the discipline required to study so
much, and the intent of the parents to inculcate the value of getting a good
education, and the consequent values they pass on to their kids, is what
creates the difference in how such kids look at the value of education versus
others.

~~~
eesmith
I consider all those part of the "some advantages". Debate club is one of many
competitive academic pursuits which can, for the right people, set up those
principles. I imagine chess club would as well, as it also requires much study
and discipline.

That's why I did the follow up "wouldn't it be better to spend that same
effort on a broader range of academic study?"

Spend an extra three hours per day on history, or literature, or math, or
learning new languages, and it would not only help instill those principles,
but the actual knowledge, after graduation, is more likely to be useful than
knowing how to spell a lot of words, yes?

