A-p-p-o-g-g-i-a-t-u-r-a

Interesting commentary from Tunku Varadarajan of the WSJ on the Indian kids winning the National Spelling Bee five of the last seven years running (and all of the top three this year were Indians).

Indian pedagogy relies heavily on rote memorization--the result of a fusion of Victorian teaching methods imposed by the British and ancient Hindu practice, in which the guru (or teacher) imparted his learning to pupils via an oral tradition.

Indeed. But we think, based on our viewing of the hit documentary "Spellbound" and observing our friends' parents' actions, that the relentless Indian-American parents are more the reason for such lopsided success.