The Wall Street Journal published an article describing the influx of South Asian-Americans into the arena of spelling bees. According to the article, this has resulted in the domination of Indian-Americans in the Scripps National Spelling Bee by producing eight of its last twelve champions. This is surprising since also according to the article, “in 1989…, in standardized tests Indian-Americans were consistently performing above average in every subject but English.” This being the case, how did they manage to rise to preeminence in this event in less than 20 years? Did they participate in government programs intent on leveling the academic playing field and diminishing performance gaps?-NO!
The answer to the question, even if we are not willing to accept it, is CAPITALISM! Yes, that’s right! CAPITALISM! To wit, a need was identified and a solution was proposed through a capitalistic appeal to their culture. Since they were already acculturated toward academic achievement, it became a matter of presenting a viable and acceptable solution to their specific academic shortcoming. The solution focuses on creating a culture of individual achievement through competition. More specifically, that competition takes the form of spelling bees targeting Indian-Americans only. Yes, that’s right! Indian-Americans only! Is this discriminatory? Yes, but in a good way since it does not conjure any claims of innate ethnic intellectual superiority. Rather it is a focused effort to remedy a specific gap in achievement. And although no evidence was presented that an overall increase was achieved in Indian-American standardized test scores in English, the results in the bees are nonetheless notable. Just as notable, is the fact that this was an effort of private enterprise, not government policies or programs.
And let’s not deceive ourselves by denying that the monetary rewards are a part of the draw. In this case it is a way to fund their college educations. This is fitting since financial gain is the way in which capitalism encourages effort and rewards achievement. Moreover, Indian businessmen combined this appeal with a narrow ethnic criterion to establish several contests including the South Asian Spelling Bee.
Spelling bees are specialized academic endeavors which require large investments of time and effort, yet there still remains the issue of the individual’s level of interest and potential. None of these can be diminished by poverty or aided by wealth.Thus they remain more important than economics. This is similar to the achievement of other minorities in sports and other endeavors where there is concerted effort based on cultural appeal, interest, participation, and effort. Still, it is the competition and the promise of reward based upon success that draws those who put forth the greatest effort, demonstrate the greatest interest and possess the greatest potential.
Yet and still, this could not work so well unless it was compatible with human nature, since the results are dependent on the aspect of human nature by which we give preference to future financial reward over our present financial state. Thus, both poor and wealthy seeking a similar financial reward, are motivated to excellence by the spirit of competition. This formula has served Indian-Americans well in this endeavor and demonstrates the effectiveness of Capitalism and its compatibility with human nature.
Humbly Submitted
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