13-Year-Old N.J. Girl Wins Spelling Bee

You sir, make me happy.

It's the bee, man. The bee! The pinnacle of "I can't believe I'm watching this but I am" television. Hell, if they could somehow tie it in to Curling, they'd have a lock on television forever and ever.

I bet it got better ratings than the Carolina-Buffalo Game 7 last night. Which is both funny and sad.

I tihnk it's fabolous. Good for her.

why has this been the top story all day?

The question should be: Why aren't stories that feature achievement in education and which place an emphasis on intelligence in our younger generation featured "more" often.

The Kids are Alright.

Hey, I'd rather read about a tranquil subject like spelling, at least to start me off. The rest of those topics really don't go with breakfast.

The question should be: Why aren't stories that feature achievement in education and which place an emphasis on intelligence in our younger generation featured "more" often.

Because this is just one kid. And no matter how much an education system sucks, there will always be a few kids who shine. Maybe if they reported something like "US slips into first place in industrialized countries for education", but that would never happen. Because our education system is worse than our current congress ("Let's argue about steroid use in a completely privatized sports league").

Well first of all baseball IS American. "Baseball is as American as water is global." (Thank you VH1)

And let's not be hasty in saying that the education system sucks. Times are changing, the United States is slipping from an educational country to a social country. Look at myspace that is the perfect symbol for the collapse of the American education system. American Idol is another symbol. More people vote for the next American Idol then they do for president. Not that there is anything wrong with myspace or American Idol it just goes to show that the American lifestyle is changing whether we like it or not.

And let's not be hasty in saying that the education system sucks. Times are changing, the United States is slipping from an educational country to a social country. Look at myspace that is the perfect symbol for the collapse of the American education system. American Idol is another symbol. More people vote for the next American Idol then they do for president. Not that there is anything wrong with myspace or American Idol it just goes to show that the American lifestyle is changing whether we like it or not.

So your point is that the American education system doesn't suck because it's apparently irrelevant?

Well first of all baseball IS American. "Baseball is as American as water is global." (Thank you VH1)

And yet in America steroids are perfectly legal, which means that as far as the US Congress and their juristiction is concerned it's okay. But that's an argument for another day.

Boy, the whole "more people voted on American Idol than voted for the President argument is getting tiresome really quickly.

Once more:

-Anyone- with a phone can vote on American Idol. Lazy apathetic 5-80 year olds (and everyone else, lazy, apathetic, or not) can pick up their cordless phone, dial a number and vote.

Then, they can do it again. As many times as they can do it in a 2 hour period. Last I checked, 13-16 year olds had a helluva lot of nothing to do in that 2 hours that they'll spend hitting "redial" over and over.

How on -earth- is a comparison to our voting system when it comes to politics comparable to this? How on earth is there "any" interesting correlation between the two numbers?

There's not one... plain and simple. It's just a fact that is repeated over and over with little thought about whether it makes any sense.

fastfinge: Hey, I'd rather read about a tranquil subject like spelling, at least to start me off. The rest of those topics really don't go with breakfast.

I agree, that's why I posted a story about the Special Olympics style sports tournaments at a highschool near Chico, CA.

Sometimes it's nice to see what the rest of the world is doing while things are blowing up over seas.

See, this is a version of why I didn't like seeing the spelling bee. Newsvine is supposed to be international, calling a US spelling bee "the rest of the world" steals the international-nature away.

Actually, it isn't. Canadians, and I think some other English speaking countries, also participated.

Whoops, my bad then. That'll teach me to not read an article I don't want to read! Apologies to all.

LOL - impending nuclear war with North Korea or a teenage spelling Bee winner.

Not dugg ...... er I mean Vined!

Why can't we have an impending spelling bee war with North Korea, and a teenage nuclear winner? I think the world would be a better place.

N-U-C-L-E-A-R ?

Said that man who would probably lose to a 13 year old in a spelling bee.

No offense Ivan, but these kids are just spelling simple words. Half of them were spelling words I've never even heard.

See, look at me, I can't even make a post without a typo in it. :)

Aren't, not are.

This is like learning the telephone book by heart. You just memorize thousands of words and for what? Maybe they know how to spell words you haven't heard of, but that doesn't mean they know what those words mean, which makes the whole thing even more ridiculous.

Ivan, did you watch it last night? Because if you did, I think you would have a different opinion. Most of these kids do have other hobbies and this is just one of them and pretty much most of them also know what the definitions were. I'm not quite sure why you are so against the Spelling Bee...There are plenty of things on TV that I'm opposed to but could really not care one way or another.

I think its great that they are showing other kids that its ok to be a nerd.

My 7 yr old daughter and I watched it and had a good time.

Kids that spell well are probably 100 times more likely to excel in other areas of education. Which means that they're also more likely to excel in college. Which means that they're more likely to become doctors, or lawyers, or artists, or.... you get the point.

I'd agree with you if you were asking the question you asked about a high-school level sporting event. (I mean, after all, what are these kids going to do with 4 years of excellence in sports when they find out that 99% of kids can't make a career out of it. Chances are they didn't co-develop an education to match their athletic dominance.)

I'd rephrase it thusly:

This is impressive and all. I'm in highschool and I couldn't play football that well. But in all honestly it's kind of a useless skill. I mean it's good to be athletic but how in God's name are you going to get by when you can't play football anymore?"

Well to be fair Brian Ford, I can agree with your general sentiment, but I think that is largely a problem with kids who play sports at a big name school. There are plenty of who get sports scholarships to go to college, and know full well they'll never make a career out of it, and work very hard for their education.

My brain is ahead of my fingers today. Eesh.

Agreed, if you heard the winner as she was asked her final word, it seemed clear to me that she'd never heard it before.

She asked for it to be defined and she asked the country of origin. After receiving those answers, she won the competition. I was under the impression that she was seeking out clues that would help her spell it correctly, and not under the impression that she was stalling for time as she tried to remember a word that she had read once or twice while preparing for this competition.

Spelling is not merely about memory, just like Texas Hold 'Em is not solely about luck. (Though, I don't believe in luck.) Sure memory might play a role, but I don't think someone is going to win consistently by relying upon memory.

All you have to do is look at the 2nd place finisher last night to prove this point. She spelled "weltschmerz" with a v, forgetting that german phonetics give w's a v sound. I didn't see it last night, but if she asked the language of origin, she could (should) have drawn it from there.

By the way, if you want to know why I get excited about the spelling bee, it's thanks to this moment, which I just happened to catch live, and made me a fan for life. That kid is the Byron Leftwich of the Bee.

Brian, actually she did know how to spell the word as soon as she heard it. I think they just have to ask those questions just to confirm. I watched the show and saw her face immediately light up when she got that word. She proceeded to ask for more info just so she wouldn't appear to "snobby".

During her interview she said how thrilled she was when she heard her last word because she knew it and couldn't believe she was about to become the champion.

LoL. She didn't just beat her competition, she has beaten close to 90% of college graduates (on spelling, that is). :)