Another year of the Scripps National Spelling Bee has come and gone and in a rare occurrence, I left disappointed, and it’s probably not for the reasons you think. While I do think that two spellers tying for the championship is a bit ridiculous (there’s like a million words in the dictionary, just keep going until someone gets a word wrong), that’s not the reason I’m upset. The true reason I am upset is because for the second straight year, spellers were eliminated from the Bee without spelling a word wrong. I am glad to see that the media covered this. Nate Scott from USA Today (not to be confused with the One Tree Hill legend) wrote a great piece on this injustice.
The basic gist of the story is that all of the spellers were asked to take a vocabulary test before the Bee. About halfway through the competition on Thursday, they decided to just kick half of the spellers out of the Bee based on how they scored on the vocabulary test because there were too many spellers left in the competition. While those rules were set beforehand and every speller knew that could happen, it’s hard to come away feeling anything but devastated for those spellers who got cut without spelling a word wrong. After all this is a spelling bee, not a vocabulary bee. This whole spelling bee debacle made me think of something that is comparable in our everyday lives: cronyism and corporate welfare. Most small businesses play by the rules and do everything right, but like the spellers who were eliminated unjustly, they are punished by something that should have nothing to do with success. Because many big businesses have money and power, they can acquire unfair advantages due to their robust lobbying operation and knowing the “right people.” Every time a corporation gets a bailout, tax break, or government contract, they are gaining an unfair advantage over their smaller competitors who don’t have the luxury to do that. Similar to the way that kids with a better vocabulary shouldn’t have an institutional advantage at the Spelling Bee, those businesses with more employees and money shouldn’t have an institutional advantage in business. If Scripps decides to keep the current Spelling Bee rules, they should rename it the Academic Bee, just like a more apt name for the government’s current rules in business would be the Unfree Market. -Mark Cunningham Enjoy the Beacon blog? Help us keep it going with a tax-deductible gift.KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US
LATEST POSTS
The Boom of Vocational Programs Across the Country—and in Tennessee
Tennessee policymakers should keep note of the trends at vocational schools and see the value of these programs, not simply for earnings and...
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Property Rights
According to a Beacon poll released this week, the rising cost of housing is among the most significant barriers that Tennesseans face on th...
Beacon Poll: April Results
Today, we released our fourth quarterly Beacon Poll, a statewide survey of 1,197 registered Tennessee voters comprised of questions about po...
The Haynes Family and the Benefits of Parental Choice in Education
Parents across Tennessee are able to exercise school choice, but only if they have the financial means to do so. That could all change with...
School Choice in Tennessee: An Administrator’s Point of View
All of us enjoy the freedom to choose when we marry a spouse, buy a car, or simply purchase a cup of coffee. Why shouldn’t parents have the...
Twenty States Have Some Form of Universal License Recognition. Why Not Tennessee?
As a state experiencing significant in-migration, it's crucial to welcome new additions to our workforce without imposing unnecessary barrie...
Tennessee: The Asterisk State—An Excerpt from “Modern Davids”
On the final day of the 2016 legislative session, lawmakers voted to repeal the Hall Tax. Jon and Linda remain engaged in Beacon’s work to t...
From Colour to Color and from Blockchain to Staking: How Definitions Pave the Way
Just as Noah Webster paved the way for a new language, Tennessee lawmakers today have the opportunity to make our state a hub for new jobs,...
KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US
WANT TO DO A STORY ABOUT SOMETHING YOU SEE HERE?
CONTACT US AT:
mark@beacontn.org
(O) 615-383-6431
WHO ARE WE?
The Beacon Center of Tennessee empowers Tennesseans to reclaim and protect their freedoms, so that they can freely pursue their version of the American Dream.