of the Nat'l spelling bee finalists, 7 out of 8 contestants were of Indian heritage...


Good for them as individuals, BUT: why weren't Caucasians & others represented better?

This was a bit of a shock.

They grow up learning how to spell each other’s names.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2019 09:57PM by babyloncansuckit.

I'm doing medical transcription for a hospital in Canada. You can't believe the names! You find them even in the U.S., but I've never had so many difficult names to type. I haven't a clue how they learn to spell each other's names.

I have to add that I always won all the spelling bees in elementary school. I didn't study the spelling words. It has always come really easy to me, but other things not so easy!!! I think it would have been fun to be in one of these big spelling bees.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2019 11:53AM by cl2.

No shock to me.

Nearly all the champions over the last 15 years were of Indian heritage.

I hadn't noticed / wasn't keeping track;

inquisitive me wants to know WHY...

No shock to me either. I have seen this trend for decades now.

As soon as Fortnite comes out with a Spelling Bee version, White kids will have a shot at winning...

Somebody's been playing video games with the grandkids, methinks.

There is a traditional respect for education within Indian culture. I used to see many students of Indian heritage at MIT years ago, when my brother was a graduate assistant there.

I've been told that the best, most authentic Indian food in the Seattle area is at Microsoft headquarters. :)

It said,

“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.”

33 years ago, and things are worse than ever. Lots of fingers to point at lots of suspects, here.

In that 1 item, it seems that RR was more of a prophet than Hustle Russell....


just sayin'

Allowed? Most parents want mediocrity for their kids.

One of my favorites -- parents who consistently send their child to school anywhere from 1-3 hours late, and then want you to give the child "extra help" in terms of tutoring.

Nope.

Guaranteed that student will happily announce to you at some point during the school year, "Mom's having another baby!"

Good for those kids! Now, a bit of me on my soap box.


I was raised dirt poor. Our parents who could not go to college told us from birth that we MUST get a college education but we had to do it ourselves, work hard in school and get scholarships as the only way to make it. I did and also worked full time with a double major. So I don't cut the youth much slack when it comes to education.



I don't know if they still do it, but one of the newspapers used to publish a two page spread showing the photos of all of the top students to graduate across the country. Two full pages of photos that were all Asian, Indian with one or two Caucasians and an occasional person of color.


The major universities nowadays where I live have heavy percentages of Asian and Indian and they are the tops.

When I was a kid America was number one in everything scholastic. We are now 33 or something like that in the world. American priorities shifted as we were able to buy on credit and get everything cheap and didn't have to put so much effort into education to have an "okay" life.

The sad part is we have no hope of catching up ever. Not because we couldn't, but because of the word "deserve." Other cultures still emphasize education while Americans emphasize getting a good deal at Walmart.



Where my views come from personally:

For our company, we hire all ethnicities which is easy living in SoCal. The ones who stay and the ones who do the best are the Asians and Latinos, because of their work ethic, not because of their skin color. Besides caucasians those are the main ones who apply.

In interviews the caucasians first questions are about time off, vacation, benefits, and perks. The Latinos and Asians rarely ask about those and are more interested in what the job involves, what they can learn, and what they can bring to the company.

We don't usually lay off the caucasians. They just leave because at our company--unlike a workplace on a sit-com--=we work hard, really hard. Makes the day go quickly and then you feel really good.

And yes I know this is my experience from my own little sample of life and may not apply elsewhere or across the board. But what my life experience has been has make me feel more like part of the human race and less like an ethnicity.


I had amazing teachers. Cannot be thanked enough.

I was in the library a few days ago and there were a couple kids working together on homework. I heard one of them use the word “hypotenuse” and I was so happy kids were still learning that! Both kids were white, native English speakers.

Interesting post, Done. I wonder what’s going on? About being dirt poor, I grew up in a nice suburb of SoCal and in high school, you either bought a piece of crap car, or walked. Now all the kids have nice newish cars their parents bought them, and most kids don’t even work those horrid jobs me and my friends had in high school, since their parents want them to concentrate on their school work, not have jobs.

Done, you mentioned previously that your Dad was a Bishop, and others have commented that Bishops are usually the wealthiest member of the ward. I’m curious how your Dad was selected if not by economics? Or were you just poor because your parents had so many kids and tithed?

When I went to high school the only non-American in thousands of students was what was then called a “foreign-exchange” student, who came for a year then left. Now there are so many immigrants including the Indian spelling bee champs referred to by the OP, maybe it is just more competitive? And that’s why white kids don’t win?

Sad to hear about the employees and applicants where you work, Done. Have the whites just given up, are they out-competed, are they entitled and just don’t want to work? Are they all inheriting so much money they don’t have to?

I don’t have any answers. I do know that had I bought a crummy cheap house in my California home town after high school while working a minimum wage job instead of going to college and grad school, I would have been fabulously wealthy from real estate rather than poor from paying for college.

Good post, Done.

Thanks for adding on.

As for my dad being Bishop even though poor. Nobody else in town was rich either so having the most money wasn't a factor. My Dad was the first bishop not to be a farmer. He worked as a mechanic. My Dad did have some kind of "it factor" and was always well liked and highly respected.

Out of the blue when he became Bishop, a large company scouted him because of his knowledge of cars. They actually made an exception regarding their required college education that they were still allowed to do at the time. He did go to some kind of schooling out of state for his new field though.

I tell you all this because my mother stressed emphatically that this great new job came as a blessing from Heavenly Father because "it wouldn't do for a bishop to have a lowly job."

It was still a struggle financially since we were a large family, but not as bad as before. Still no money for college.

On the subject at hand, I do see the divide in America between the haves and have nots increasing at rapid rate. I don't know that people need more education. I think maybe they need more gumption and an understanding of delayed gratification as a forceful tool.

I have no answers though. The cream can still rise to the top but will bump into the ones who know how to "just take" when they get there. Or so it seems to this old man.

Done,

That is very interesting about your Dad and Mom. Great that your Dad was able to have good opportunities due to his abilities, not just school credentials.

I had an uncle who went to Med school on a football scholarship. Always thought that was funny. Those were the days! He became a surgeon, luckily I never needed his services!

I can see why it has been a struggle dealing with your family, you've referred to it a few times. For your mom to attribute all rewards as a "leveling" from Heavenly Father, so as not to have a Bishop with a lowly job. Wow. with those beliefs it is a wonder you broke free.

Following the same reasoning, your being gay is also a gift from the HF....um, maybe to teach your family tolerance? There has to be *some* reason, right?

> ...understanding of delayed gratification as a forceful tool.

Yes, I think immigrants who sacrifice for their children, so the kids will have a better life, probably are an illustration of that. The kids are striving and striving so their parent's sacrifice was not in vain.

> I have no answers though. The cream can still rise to the top but will bump into the ones who know how to "just take" when they get there. Or so it seems to this old man.

Aww. Old or not, I'm sure you have the same, or more "it-factor" as your Dad, I am sure you are also well-liked and well-respected, certainly you are here! You, I am sure, are part of the cream at the top! :)

The only thing I know for sure is that we need to tax the rich and adequately fund public education.

The majority of my coworkers are first generation from India. These young men and women are probably in the top 5 percent of India's smartest students. They are extremely good at following directions and have excellent attention to detail. I'm just speaking in generalities here, but it doesn't surprise me at all.

There's 1.4 billion Indians and the top 0.1% qualify to make it to Western nations, so we're getting the cream of the crop, the vast majority of higher caste to begin with. Visit India and you'll quickly find out the geniuses do not make up most of the population.

Which is true everywhere, but you don't notice the statistical selection bias if you've only seen Indians in Canada or the U.S. or UK.

Also, Indian is a nationality, not an ethnicity. The country is made up of a LOT of ethnicities.

That still doesn't explain why 7/8 finalists in an *American* spelling bee are of Indian extraction. Where are the cream of the crop Caucasian kids, since Caucasians are still the majority in this country? Did they wander off to pick daisies?

So this country's greatest hope is more immigration from India and Asia? Fine by me. I would think they could only raise our standards and the competition would get some to up their game, but apparently not.

Daisies. I wish. Problem is, summer, it's hard to pick daisies while staring at an iphone and it's hard to learn to spell when you aren't allowed to use Spell Check and emojis.

With so much attention on our southern border, it has obsured the fact that the country with the highest number of immigrants to the U.S. is currently China. And I don't think that's a bad thing.

It does raise some questions, though. Do we really want to go the same route as China, Japan, Singapore, etc. with regard to an education system? Their systems produce great results, but often at a severe cost of escalating mental health issues in the youth along with increased suicides.

A Chinese-American friend of mine keeps me appraised of education issues with regard to the Asian-American community. They are often discriminated against when it comes to admission to our best universities, because they achieve at a high proportion compared to their population numbers. While there is something to be said for diversity, there is also something to be said for rewarding drive and effort.

All work and no play makes Wang a dull, depressed boy?

Perhaps the Asians can increase our study ethic while we teach them to party?

The Happy Medium. I swear by it. And it is not found on an iPhone. I swear by that too.

Done & Done Wrote:

> Perhaps the Asians can increase our study ethic while we teach them to party?

Ha!