The National Spelling Bee takes place annually at the end of May. Every year, surprisingly young children spell surprisingly sophisticated and obscure words. Although the ability the kids have to memorize thousands of spelling patterns and thousands more exceptions to these rules-- you have to ask the question, what's the point?
Even as I type in blogger I will mistype words and correct them immediately using spell check. In the world of computers and instant spelling fixes on almost everything that people write--do people need to know how to spell words like feuilleton stichomythia (the winning word at last years competition)? The spelling competition is seemingly obsolete. Having said that, I think there are many important skills that the Bee reenforces, such as understanding the origin of words and even learning their definitions.
I think that instead of spelling being the focus in school curriculums and competitions, the school would better spend their time growing students' vocabularies. There is a benefit to parts of the National Spelling Bee, but maybe it could be changed to keep up with the current times.
No comments:
Post a Comment