Talk:Spelling bee

Redirexion

For the record the link National Spelling Bee was by far the most ridiculous redirect series. 68.39.174.150 05:00, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Criticism of spelling contests

This article should address (with NPOV) the obvious pedagogical criticisms of the form, viz., that it promotes the most egregious sort of rote learning and bizarre study habits. Students bury their heads in dictionaries for hours to prepare to regurgitate sequences of letters upon cue. Notwithstanding that it is important (and necessary) to memorize the spelling of words we use on a regular basis, the state-wide and national spelling bees inevitably become an exercise in esoterica. Contestants are expected to spell words most of us have never seen before or will ever come across again in our lifetime. Consider that educational psychologists estimate we forget up to 70% of unused information we learned in school, over time. Anyone who has studied a foreign language and allowed their proficiency to lapse can appreciate this. We don't need to memorize the spelling of every word in the English language; this is why we keep reference books at hand. (For that matter, Google will correct a close misspelling.)

The essence of a modern education is knowing how to access and utilize reference sources not memorizing arcane facts. We live in the Information Age and we are cultivating learning habits reminiscent of Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. soverman 13 June 2005

I just think it shows how broken the English language is, to the point where you have competitions to see if anyone can spell; and out of the best spellers, nobody actually can spell. The English language needs fixing!WolfKeeper 16:29, 3 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This article could use criticisms—actually, it could use discussions of the educational value of the bees in general, from all sides. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 17:31, 2 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pardon my French, but -- God! -- that's a retarded concept. I first became aware of the existence of such contests through American movies and tv shows referencing them, but didn't think they'd be this established. They do seem to be absolutely worthless considering how American "spellers" perform in comparison to non-Americans (in their respective languages). Also, colloquial American isn't exactly full of particularily complex words and these contests seem to be mostly about scientific terms or rather antiquated/rare phrases.

I can't believe there is no reference to any discussion or criticism of this whole sham. — Ashmodai ^{(talk · contribs)} 01:48, 3 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Your assertion that "...colloquial American isn't exactly full of particularily complex words..." loses a bit of steam when you misspell the word "particularly." Petershank 05:05, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Slight change made

I changed the intro sentence from "North American competition" to just "competition" and then made the note that it originated in the US and has since spread to elsewhere in the English-speaking world. I did this for two reasons. First, and most importantly, the competition has spread beyond North America, as the article itself notes. It's held everywhere from the Pacific Islands to New Zealand. Yes, the winners of these regions still travel to Washington, apparently, but obviously they need to hold local qualifying rounds somewhere in the home country, right? Second, all articles on these sorts of practices should note the country of origin, and, in this case, it's originally an American competition that has spread throughout North America and beyond.

Prize

How is the current monetary value of the prize?Patchouli 05:26, 13 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Which spelling bee are you referring to? The monetary prize of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (U.S.) is described on that page. Vernon 13:48, 28 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Given the increasing popularity of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, including its now primetime network exposure on American television, many people will come to this page looking for information more specific about the event they are watching on television. Vernon 13:48, 28 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

From the article.

This comment was in s but I have moved it here in other to reply to it. "really? are there no spelling bees in languages other than English? I'd like to see a cite... or a counterexample."

This sort of thing is near impossible to cite. It's just not something anything is likely to mention. Besides, the text does not say only anywhere, so it doesn't even need a cite. If other languages can be found to have spelling bees, then they can be incorperated into the article. I doubt a spelling bee would be very interesting in many languages though. English is a bit unaturally inconsistant with how our letters are pronouced. Most languages are spelt exactly how they sound. --SeizureDog 21:03, 22 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Non-English spelling bees?

Hmm, I tend to disagree. Polish language for instance is full of words which can be written in variery of ways, yet they sound the same (or almost the same). Children in primary schools often write dictations and dictation contents are held. Yet I haven't so far seen anyone holding spelling bee contest -- and yes, the spelling bee seems alien to me. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.239.57.235 (talk) 21:38, 7 February 2007 (UTC). 87.239.57.235 21:39, 7 February 2007 (UTC) Dawid Kuroczko[reply]

French as well has this issue, although again, probably there is not a French spelling bee. Other English speaking countries even find the spelling bee alien, and most languages would find a spelling bee impossible to execute, as the words tend to be spelled in a more uniform manner.