Scripps National Spelling Bee - Jumped The Shark?

[dominiondad]

true, but even Olympic athletes can and do tie for medals

If they don't already, they could try having Scripps rotate between the vocab and spelling rounds as I mentioned that our school and county does. It makes it more challenging.

Agreed, there is the occasional tie. But never for 8 athletes. Two, maybe three, kids in a tie seems reasonable. Eight seems silly and, in my opinion, lessens the "Champion" title.

 

[dominiondad]

There is nothing in those definitions that says there can only be one winner.

It literally says "one that wins".

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

It literally says "one that wins".

When someone says, "she is one tough teacher" do they mean she is the only tough teacher? No they don't.
When there are two winners of the lottery they both are winners.
"One that wins" is the exact same context. It simply means one that wins. There might be only one. There might not be only one.
Again the word "one" does not mean the same thing as the phrase "one and only" or "only one"
If an Olympic swim races is tied, both win a gold medal. Both were winners. If 8 of them tied, 8 of them would get one. Same goes for the spelling bee here.

 

[Wendy31]

There should be one winner/champion because that's what those words mean. Note that all of the below are singular.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary -

winner
noun
win·ner | \ ˈwi-nər \
Definition of winner

: one that wins: such as
a : one that is successful especially through praiseworthy ability and hard work
b : a victor especially in games and sports
c : one that wins admiration
d : a shot in a court game that is not returned and that scores for the player making it

champion
noun
cham·pi·on | \ ˈcham-pē-ən \
Definition of champion
(Entry 1 of 2)
1: WARRIOR, FIGHTER
2: a militant advocate or defender
3: one that does battle for another's rights or honor
4: a winner of first prize or first place in competition also : one who shows marked superiority

Except the song clearly says, "WE are the champions!"

"We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause WE are the champions of the... Scripps National Spelling Bee!"

 

[dominiondad]

When someone says, "she is one tough teacher" do they mean she is the only tough teacher? No they don't.
"One that wins" is the exact same context. It doesn't mean there can only be one that wins.
Again the word "one" does not mean the same thing as the phrase "one and only" or "only one"
If an Olympic swim races is tied, both win a gold medal. Both were winners. Same goes for the spelling bee here.

I think an Olympic swim race is a bit different because it has a defined ending (50 yds, 100 yds, etc.) and the timing technology only allows them to capture times up to hundreths of a second, so they have no way to differentiate finishers. They can't extend the race. In the spelling bee, they dont predetermine a finishing point. If the goal is to get to round 30, then end it there and a tie makes sense. But if the contest is to outlast your competition, then it seems silly to have an eight-way tie. In the case of this spelling bee, I agree all the kids are winners - because the contest announced it so. I just think its a bit silly and may not help the repuation of the contest down the road.

 

[dominiondad]

Except the song clearly says, "WE are the champions!"

"We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause WE are the champions of the... Scripps National Spelling Bee!"

I'm tempted to conceed my point based on this new evidence.

 

[mnrose]

I think they need to rework the contest into being one where all kids in a round get the same words. They can write them out. Heck, even use a Jeopardy like screen so we can all see what they are writing. Give definitions to all, and use in a sentence, etc. I bet we'd do a better job, in a more fair way, of finding ONE winner. It was clear to me that some of the words those final 8 got were "easier" than others. This way, it's a true head to head competition.

I got why they ended it. It was running VERY late, with no end in sight. These are kids. They can't stay up indefinitely!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think they need to rework the contest into being one where all kids in a round get the same words. They can write them out. Heck, even use a Jeopardy like screen

The National Scripps Spelling Bee winner for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 ...

 

[DietCoke18]

I like the dodgeball idea.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I think an Olympic swim race is a bit different because it has a defined ending (50 yds, 100 yds, etc.) and the timing technology only allows them to capture times up to hundreths of a second, so they have no way to differentiate finishers. They can't extend the race. In the spelling bee, they dont predetermine a finishing point. If the goal is to get to round 30, then end it there and a tie makes sense. But if the contest is to outlast your competition, then it seems silly to have an eight-way tie. In the case of this spelling bee, I agree all the kids are winners - because the contest announced it so. I just think its a bit silly and may not help the repuation of the contest down the road.

The Bee may not have a predetermined finishing point, but that does not mean it is not at all time constrained. They only have the venue for so long and tear down and set up for whatever is the next thing scheduled there is already scheduled. And the network certainly is going to encourage it wrapping up and not going into a long overtime. It was running late with no real end in sight. And if all those finals words most of us couldn't get didn't trip up any of those 8, what words could anyone even pick that would be guaranteed to end it quickly?

 

[Pamlur]

They allow people to pay for their kids to participate; it's called something like RSVBee. If they stopped that, then only the actual winners of local/regional contests could be there and maybe that would shorten it? I am not, in any way, saying there wouldn't still be ties but less people could mean less rounds, right?

 

[bcla]

I think it's a testament to the rigor and expectations that kids today are facing to succeed. And demonstrates what kids are doing to rise to that challenge.

The subjects and what kids in middle/high school today are expected to do are far advanced from what I was exposed to in school.

I stopped being able to help my kids with homework after about 4th grade.

It's a spelling bee. It's not really about intelligence but rote memorization. Anyone who truly has a photographic memory should theoretically not miss a word unless exhausted.

And yeah the demographic makeup of the 8 co-champions is kind of telling.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-...ling-bee-indian-americans-20190530-story.html

 

[Southernmiss]

It's a spelling bee. It's not really about intelligence but rote memorization. Anyone who truly has a photographic memory should theoretically not miss a word unless exhausted.

And yeah the demographic makeup of the 8 co-champions is kind of telling.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-...ling-bee-indian-americans-20190530-story.html

Meh. I get what you are trying to say. But have you been in a successful public school lately?

I have kids who are there or recently graduated. Their school is quite a melting pot of cultures and races. Kids of all colors and creeds are succeeding and encouraging each other to succeed. Just like in college and the workforce.

Did you watch any of the Bee last night? The words were of many different origins and backgrounds. Sure, there are things that the kids can study, but it's quite a feat to be able to spell them to rise to the top in their scools, regions and states.

Several of my four kids made it to our regional bees. Two of our boys competed against each other in one of them and the younger one out spelled the older one. None made it beyond the regional.

There's so much negative in the media today regarding our young people. The National Bees exposes the good happening in our schools today and puts them on a level that most US citizens are not exposed to.

 

[bcla]

Meh. I get what you are trying to say. But have you been in a successful public school lately?

I have kids who are there or recently graduated. Their school is quite a melting pot of cultures and races. Kids of all colors and creeds are succeeding and encouraging each other to succeed. Just like in college and the workforce.

Did you watch any of the Bee last night? The words were of many different origins and backgrounds. Sure, there are things that the kids can study, but it's quite a feat to be able to spell them to rise to the top in their scools, regions and states.

Several of my four kids made it to our regional bees. Two of our boys competed against each other in one of them and the younger one out spelled the older one. None made it beyond the regional.

There's so much negative in the media today regarding our young people. The National Bees exposes the good happening in our schools today and puts them on a level that most US citizens are not exposed to.

I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad thing for parents to be so involved with their kids. However, this is just one of those things where there's just been a steadfast dedication from a certain demographic subset. The article I linked noted that there is a "South Asian Spelling Bee" that serves as a proving ground for the national Bee.

I see it like I see how the large majority of mom and pop donut shops in California are owned by Cambodian immigrant families and their descendants. There was a concerted effort to develop a network of owners where one would help a new entrant set up in a different location.

It's just kind of the way things have settled out. I remember once I was telling my coworker and friend (an Indian immigrant) about my trip and arriving late at a motel. The first thing he asked me was if the manager or owner was Indian. He said that there are an inordinate proportion of motel owners from a certain part of India who have gone on to operate American motels.

As for the spelling bee, it really helps to just do random things like pour over dictionary words. At a certain point it's not really learning but memorizing.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

If you haven't see the movie Bad Words with Jason Bateman, you need to if you are a SSB fan. It is rated R, and it has crude humor, but it is HYSTERICAL.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

I like the dodgeball idea.

Every one of them looks like the kind of nerd who would be quickly eliminated in dodge ball.

Yeah, yeah, they're all smart and worked hard. But a teen Fortnite champion is much more impressive.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

We caught a little bit of that flipping through channels the other night. It was amazing how well those kids were able to spell. I could see their thought processes using the origins of words etc... and they had it all figured out. They are much smarter than I am.

I think when it reaches the point where a winner cannot be determined, the tie breaker should be elimination round of "rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock" until a champion is crowned.

 

[Kennywood]

Congratulations to the 8 winners. You have now qualified to enter.....the Hunger Games.

 

[soccerdad72]

All I really thought when I watched it last week is that they're going to have to change up something to make it harder in future years. Clearly, the kids and/or training that they're doing has made the competition too easy for them (not for us mere mortals, though ). At the rate they're going, half the finalists won't miss a word in the future. And while that's not any less impressive, nobody is going to watch if nobody ever gets knocked out of the competition.