The New York Times has a lovely story that looks at why children whose parents were immigrants from India do so well at spelling bees. It really comes down to will and determination. It's a marvelous lesson for anyone who wants to achieve success in any field.
Excellence in a number of fields has always had a cultural tinge - consider the prevalence of Dominicans in baseball, Jews in violin playing, Kenyans in long-distance running. In 1985, when a 13-year-old son of Indian immigrants, Balu Natarajan, beat out his competitors by spelling "milieu," it had an electrifying impact on his countrymen, much as Juan Marichal's conquest of baseball had for Dominicans. Balu not only became an overnight Indian sensation, one whose name resonates 20 years later, but other Indian-Americans have tried to emulate his feat.
Certainly, immigrant strivers have always done astonishingly well in national academic contests, not to mention in school in general. In some years, more than a quarter of the 40 winners in the Intel Science Talent Search, known originally as the Westinghouse awards, have been immigrants or their children.
Interviews with those winners, many who are the children of seamstresses or small-time shopkeepers, reveal that to bring the glow of accomplishment into their parents' spare lives, they will sacrifice television viewing and socializing to work on agonizingly slow and complicated experiments.
When the family is behind a child and that child has the will to do well, almost anything can be possible. Not everyone cares about spelling bees or academic competitions, but you can have that sort of drive just to succeed in school. In the wonderful Spelling Bee documentary,Spellbound, one of the children they followed was the daughter of illegal immigrants from Mexico who didn't speak English even after having been here for so many years. But their daughter made it to the National Spelling Bee. I've seen in so many children of immigrants whom I've taught over the years and it really is inspirational. (link via Joanne Jacobs) posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 4:34 PM
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The New York Times has a lovely story that looks at why children whose parents were immigrants from India do so well at spelling bees. It really comes down to will and determination. It's a marvelous lesson for anyone who wants to achieve success in any field.
Excellence in a number of fields has always had a cultural tinge - consider the prevalence of Dominicans in baseball, Jews in violin playing, Kenyans in long-distance running. In 1985, when a 13-year-old son of Indian immigrants, Balu Natarajan, beat out his competitors by spelling "milieu," it had an electrifying impact on his countrymen, much as Juan Marichal's conquest of baseball had for Dominicans. Balu not only became an overnight Indian sensation, one whose name resonates 20 years later, but other Indian-Americans have tried to emulate his feat.
Certainly, immigrant strivers have always done astonishingly well in national academic contests, not to mention in school in general. In some years, more than a quarter of the 40 winners in the Intel Science Talent Search, known originally as the Westinghouse awards, have been immigrants or their children.
Interviews with those winners, many who are the children of seamstresses or small-time shopkeepers, reveal that to bring the glow of accomplishment into their parents' spare lives, they will sacrifice television viewing and socializing to work on agonizingly slow and complicated experiments.
When the family is behind a child and that child has the will to do well, almost anything can be possible. Not everyone cares about spelling bees or academic competitions, but you can have that sort of drive just to succeed in school. In the wonderful Spelling Bee documentary,Spellbound, one of the children they followed was the daughter of illegal immigrants from Mexico who didn't speak English even after having been here for so many years. But their daughter made it to the National Spelling Bee. I've seen in so many children of immigrants whom I've taught over the years and it really is inspirational. (link via Joanne Jacobs) posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 4:34 PM
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