Again with the Spelling Bee

You've got to love the opening to this piece in the Times of India about the National Spelling Bee.

An "air on inevitability." Gorgeous.

True, the winner, Kavya Shivshankar, was poised beyond belief each time she reached for the microphone. And the tiny smile that appeared on her face as her new word was uttered aloud did seem to foreshadow her win.

Of course, it didn't hurt that her father was in the background with a knowing look, as if to say they had studied that word 100 times before...

Apparently, Indian-American parents have been practicing for this for some time now:

"Why Indian-American kids have begun to dominate Spelling Bee (and its companion event the Geographic Bee) isn’t a mystery anymore. Parental and peer pressure and inspiration have resulted in almost every Indian household pushing their kids into nationwide competitions in every sphere of school life, not just spelling competitions. The results show up in many school-level academic competitions."

A win for "precocious middle-schoolers" everywhere...