Master of Words: Why Indian-Americans excel at US spelling bee competitions

Dev Shah, an Indian-American, has won this year’s US National Spelling Bee competition. The 14-year-old from Largo, Florida, was crowned the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion after he correctly spelled the word psammophile, which Merriam-Webster defines as an “organism that prefers or thrives in sandy soils or areas”. He beat Charlotte Walsh, a 14-year-old from Arlington, Virginia, to lift the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy, reported Associated Press (AP). They were among the 11 participants, aged 11 to 14, who reached the finals after defeating 220 other contestants in the three-day contest, held in National Harbor, Maryland, according to Reuters.

Congratulations to this year’s 2023 𝙎𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙨 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙚𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙣, Dev Shah! 🥳 pic.twitter.com/xQFIdg9JLY

— iontv (@iontv) June 2, 2023

Dev has joined the list of Indian-Americans who have been dominating the US National Spelling Bee for years now. But what is it about them that makes them so successful in these contests? Let’s understand. 22 South Asian champions in last 24 years As per AP, Scripps National Spelling Bee has seen 22 winners of South Asian descent, including Dev Shah, in the last 24 years. The first National Spelling Bee contest was held in 1925 in the US.

In 1985, Balu Natarajan became the first Indian-American to win the contest.

Another participant of Indian origin, Rageshree Ramachandran, became the champion in 1988, followed by Nupur Lala in 1999. Since then, people of South Asian heritage have continued to make their mark at these competitions. George Thampy was the champion in 2000, followed by Pratyush Buddiga in 2002, Sai Gunturi in 2003, and Anurag Kashyap in 2005, noted The Hindu. After Sameer Mishra was crowned the winner in 2008, Indian-Americans went on to lift the trophy till 2019. In 2019, there were eight co-champions, out of which seven were Indian-Americans, as per The Conversation. The bee was not organised in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Zaila Avant-garde became the first African-American to win the Scripps Spelling Bee, smashing the 12-year-long streak of champions of Indian origin. [caption id=“attachment_12682332” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Zaila Avant-garde became the first African-American to win the Scripps Spelling Bee in 2021. Reuters File Photo[/caption] Last year, Harini Logan, a 14-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the first-ever lightning-round tiebreaker — a spell-off. She defeated Vikram Raju, another contestant of Indian origin. What’s behind their success? From resources to a desire to excel in academia, there are various factors behind Indian-Americans’ interest in such contests. Shalini Shankar, an anthropologist, was quoted as saying by The New York Times (NYT) about the competition’s importance for South Asians: “It is definitely a source of pride from an educational standpoint”. Pawan Dhingra, Professor of Sociology and American Studies at Amherst College, explained in the last year’s Conversation piece that the success of these champions “has to do with a firm commitment by families to spend the time and money necessary to help their kids fully prepare”. These children perform well not only in spelling bees but also geography, math and other academic contests, he added. While many kids in the US participate in activities such as sports or the arts outside school, the children of Indian-Americans, in addition to these, also engage in extracurricular academic activities, mostly competitive ones, Dhingra wrote for The Conversation. As per a BBC article, it is believed that Indian-Americans are “particularly adept at rote learning and memorisation”. Sanjoy Chakravorty of Temple University in Philadelphia wrote for the BBC in 2016: “There are suggestions that they are particularly adept at rote learning and memorisation. They work in clusters and use ethnic and family networks to dominate a few professions. These properties are strikingly similar to what works for their children in the spelling and geography bees - education, memorisation, and networks.” These kids also come from families that have a higher income range, giving them an edge over others to spend money, time and effort in such competitions. [caption id=“attachment_12682342” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Last year, Harini Logan, a 14-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, lifted the Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy. Reuters File Photo[/caption] According to The Conversation, the median household income of Indian-Americans is $119,000, much above the national median of $85,800. “Parents invest a lot of their time with their kids…They prioritise education and have the economic means to have a parent stay at home. It’s much more a socio-economic factor than a gene,” Shalini Shankar, the author of Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal About Generation Z’s New Path to Success, told CNN. Indian-American parents also feel their kids need to have a stronger academic background than their peers to get into an eminent university, Dingra explained in The Conversation. The parents of these youngsters are themselves highly educated and, in turn, put more emphasis on their child’s education, noted BBC.  According to The Quint report, as many of Indian-Americans are multilingual, it is “normal” for the children to be well-versed in the vocabulary of different languages and excel in English. Thus, it is common for these kids to know several dictionaries by the age of 12. As Chakravorty wrote for the BBC, “The immigrant’s hunger for success, as individuals and as a community. The drive to work hard and suffer deprivations when needed. Anything that must be done to be both part of the mainstream and a shining example in it.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.