Have you ever watched the National Spelling Bee? Pretty phenomenal watching the kids spell
some pretty amazing words. I am certain
long hours were spent on the part of every contestant memorizing long lists of words
known to be included in the overall list of words.
As I listened to the latest contest, I wondered how many of the
words the kids were spelling were words the kids could fully define. Seems to me that the contest is really a big
exercise in memorization rather than a contest that brings about an explosion
in the vocabulary of all the contestants.
Imagine what would happen if the National Spelling Bee
required that each child spelled the word and then provided at least 1
definition of the word and a sample sentence using the word correctly. The vocabulary increase of every child would
be enormous. Perhaps the slaughter of
English as I learned it would be slowed as children all over the country would
be learning the meaning of lots of words rather than just memorizing the
spelling list.
Sadly, I do not see this ever happening. Our current school systems focus on “memorize
and regurgitate” rather than “understand and apply.” The current Spelling Bee format is a game of
the latter when it ought to be a game of the former.
If it were possible to draft an open challenge to the
current Spelling Bee system, then I would gladly issue the challenge but alas,
the school systems in the US are not interested in students being able to
think. Their system of measurement is
strictly based on memorization.
What do you think? Would
you like to see The National Spelling Bee changed to become the National
Vocabulary Contest?
No comments:
Post a Comment