The folks behind the National Spelling Bee are changing the rules two months before the competition, reports Yahoo.
What’s going on here? Why the sudden change so close to the start of the competition? Speculation has it the Spelling Bee is trying to trip up Indian Americans contestants who have won 10 out of the last 14 competitions.
Rote learning is emphasized in India a lot more than in the Untied States and that has served Indian American in the Spelling Bee well.
The new rules require the contestants to define the word as well as spell it. The rule change could even the odds a bit.
The official reason for the rule change is that the Spelling Bee has always been about “knowledge of the English language.”
As Zachary Seward writes for Yahoo: “Vocabulary is an entirely different, if also worthy, skill. But nobody asks chess masters to be good at backgammon, too.”
What do you think? Why did the Spelling bee change the rules so close to the competition. Let us know what you think.
