Spellbound

I had mixed feelings about this movie. I thought that the children in it were amazing, adorable, and very determined and I think that’s fantastic that they were so excited to succeed at the Spelling Bee. However, I don’t think that that sort of competition is a good one to gauge literacy on. The fact that it is a competition with one winner proves that point even more. The Bee doesn’t take into account where each child came from and what sort of resources they were given, so Angela taught herself the words but the wealthy girls and boys had tutors and had time devoted to a professional every day to help them learn how to spell. I just don’t think that it would be a fair judge of literacy. Also, even one of the contestants says that it’s all luck, and it really is. So how do you prepare or guide someone to win a competition that is based on luck? And when a kid doesn’t make it to the end she may feel less than her peers.