Not your ordinary competition

W hen any-one hears the phrase "spelling bee," images of a really boring competition might come to mind. What could be less exciting than watching some nerdy kid slowly spelling out a word he or she (or even you or I) may never use? Unlike any other major sporting competitions, spelling bees involve no split-second plays, precise on-the-floor teamwork, or exciting clutch shots. The truth is it’s just a bunch of kids trying to out-spell each other, and quite frankly, it is a wonder why it is even televised.

But here’s the thing. The pressure and the drama can be just as intense.

Spellbound is a documentary that follows eight gifted children from lower and middle school grades — Angela, Nupur, Ted, Emily, Ashley, Neil, April and Harry — each an ace speller and determined to attain top honors and be awarded the title of "Best Speller in the United States." The film focuses on the rigorous training each child goes through to make it to the annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee — the mother of all spelling bees in the US, held in Washington D.C. where only the top 249 spellers across the nation are allowed to compete. To even be included in that top 249 is quite a feat for a young child, but elimination is imminent as each of them is vying for the number one spot.

Even with the exclusion of technical fouls, flagrant fouls, and red cards, this particular spelling bee is tough, to say the least; a true test of one’s resolve and concentration.

Spellbound takes an inside look particularly at family involvement, and how this is such a key factor in the success of the child. Each of the eight families showcased in the film explain their training regimen for their son or daughter, but all share one common belief: determination. There is really no measure as to how determined these children are, but as far as the film goes, they truly are. In many cases, however, the parents are more determined to see their child’s victory than the children themselves. In a way, the film shows that the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee is not only a competition of children trying to out-spell one another, but also a challenge set by parents for their children: to see whether or not they live up to the many expectations set before them.

What Spellbound demonstrates is that the pressure on the children comes from two places. First is the pressure of the competition itself. With only the top 249 spellers allowed to enter the competition, the pressure to stay in and avoid elimination is intense. The competition can last for several days and the children may experience severe mental strain in the days of the competition. Added to this is the pressure that comes from the second source: the parents.

Parents expect their child to make it to the top during the spelling bee, and the children feel this expectation. Up onstage when spelling out a word, the children do not only think of the judge’s call, but also pay close attention to the looks on their parent’s faces, their mannerisms and how they squirm in their seats. The slightest sign of displeasure can really throw the child off-track from his or her concentration. After their child is eliminated, parents may say: "Oh, it’s all right. Making it this far was rewarding enough," but what they truly may be thinking is: My child could have won if he or she concentrated more. They may be thinking this only to themselves, not even sharing it with the rest of the family, but the children know that they failed nonetheless. A long-term possibility is that this can turn out to be a traumatizing childhood experience that may manifest itself in their adult lives.

Spellbound is set in the US, but the pressure for children to succeed is quite intense here, too. I think parents are too worried that their kids are going to turn out as bums, so the idea is to get them on the program as early as possible. But that sucks; that just makes parents — and kids, sometimes — too paranoid. I mean, its not okay for your child to not do well at school, but when the kid runs on a schedule that has the same hours as office workers, that’s not right either.

Coming home from school in the evenings, around 5:30-6ish, I still see kids being released from the tutorial centers along Katipunan. And these look like pretty young kids, probably still in grade school. That totally blows for them because they get out of school at three in the afternoon only to start doing more work for another two or three hours. And on their way home, they have to travel during rush-hour traffic, so it may take them a really long time to get home. So, just to drive the point home, these kids wake up really early to beat the traffic, spend around seven hours in school, another two hours at tutorial centers, and maybe an hour on the road because of traffic. That’s a schedule even many of those working regular jobs wouldn’t be able to keep up with.

That’s not really fair to them because the pressure of succeeding nowadays is really hardcore. I think that parents worry too much about their kids. At three, they should just make their kids go home, let them watch TV or play until dinner time, then help them with their homework afterwards. They should just let them be kids and stop too much worrying about them. I’m guessing that the parents of these children are very much like the parents of the spelling bee kids on Spellbound.

Going back to the movie, whoever thought spelling bees were mere child’s play should watch Spellbound. The film covers all possible angles and shows both the triumphant and joyous side of victory and winning in competitions as well as the dark and twisted side of mechanized training methods and having to live up to very high expectations at such a young age.

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E-mail me at enricomiguelsubido@yahoo.com.