Spellbound

Saw Spellbound yesterday. The documentary follows the progress of 8 preteens as they prepare for that most curious of American institutions - the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee (OK, at first glance not the most riveting subject). The youth profiled came from a diverse array of ethnic & socio-economic backgrounds, from border-hopping Mexican parents in rural Texas who don't speak English to middle-class Jews in New England to a white family in small-town Missouri to single African-American mother in D.C. and to well-heeled Indian immigrants in Orange County. Altogether the documentary was very well made - the last half in particular is suspenseful as each kid is knocked out one by one - and the documentary beautifully captures the triump and trials of the kids and parents alike in a very gentle, non-intrusive low-key way (here's to you Michael Moore).

No surprise, the Indian girl won.

Final Four of 2005 National Spelling Bee: Anurag, Kashyap, Aliya Deri, Samir Patel, Rajiv Tarigopula – all Indian. Keep scanning down the list and one fill find that Indian surnames are disproportionately represented. Moreover, this is no mere aberration. National Spelling Bee Champions: 2003, Sai Guntuyri; 2002, Pratyush Buddiga; 2001, Sean Conley; 2000, George Thampy; 1999, Nupur Lala. And of the 2-3 year state champion repeaters: Ashwini A. Gokhale, Rajiv Tarigopula, Samir Sudhir Patel, Nidharshan S. Anandasivam, Anurag Kashyap, Kendra Guthrie Yoshinaga, Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan, Bonny Jain, Sahiti Surapaneni, Nilesh K. Raval, Arjun R. Modi, Saptarshi Chaudhuri, Anjay Ajodha. Phenomenal representation for a group that’s ~1% of the American populace!

So do Indians/South Asians have a natural aptitude for spelling? What accounts for their success? One clear reason could be that South Indians/Sri Lankans must (from a young age) master longass polysyllabic tongue-twisting names like Subramanian Chandrasegaramoorthy and Venkatesh Nagulasigamanilingam. A second factor could be the discipline and academic rigour required for a champion speller, something that while a lot of Indian parents will compel their kids into, seldom few Anglos would commit themselves to. Still another factor could be the scores of religious shlokams that many Hindus must memorize and recite during prayers (fortunately I was spared) and which could enhance one's memory and spelling prowess.

Also of interest is the notable absence of East Asians (the natural academic rivals of South Asians) in the list of finalists. Scarcely a Wong, Chan, Park or Lee in sight. This is all the more remarkable considering the formidable Chinese-Japanese-Korean troika adhere to a similar tradition of strict academic discipline, if not to a greater degree (cram schools and rote memorization remain a primary mode of learning in the Far East, as anyone schooled in HK will attest). Moreover both diasporas have a similar demographic profiles, have a high % immigrant, and are more educated than the American mean. So why then is there a relative paucity of Chinese representation in spelling bees, and why the preponderance of champion Indian spellers?

This pattern is fairly interesting and consistent even when applied to a broader context. Off-hand one can name several distinguished South Asian Canadian authors – Shyam Selvadurai (Sri Lanka), Rohinton Mistry (India), Anita Rau Badami (India), Neil Bissoondath (Trinidad), Michael Ondaatje (Sri Lanka). The list of notable East Asian Canadian authors is comparatively thin (only Wayson Choy of Jade Peony fame comes to mind), and so it would that South Asians are naturally more literature-inclined.

South Asians are also fairly prominent politically, with a strong representation of Indian MPs on the Canadian federal scene and ministers occupying high-profile portfolios (Health Minister and one-time BC Premier Ujjal Dosanjh and Transportation Minister Harinder Takhar come to mind). Again comparatively there's a dearth in Chinese/Japanese/Korean political representation, despite being their being more numerous in the second and third generations, and so one can surmise that this population is not nearly as politically active nor inclined.

From empirical observation the Chinese appear to have a hard time mastering the English language, while to Indians it comes fairly easily for whatever reason. And from my experience, SAs have a more assertive, opinionated, in-your-face style of communication similar to white folk, while EAs (especially FOBs) appear more passive and reticent (likewise, in multi-racial Malaysia and Singapore, the top lawyers are Indian while the accountants are Chinese). Russell Peters is arguably the biggest Canadian stand-up comedian today and an example of someone who's inherited and successfuly exploited the subcontinental gift-for-gab.

This can lead one to conjecure that South Asians, like Jews, have a high verbal IQ and are more gifted verbally while the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans are more talented in left-brained logical/mathematical pursuits, and have a high math IQ. China consistently places first in the International Math Olympiad. It can account for the rapid economic ascendance of Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and coastal China relative to the poverty of South Asia (though ethnic homogeneity and Confucianist cohesiveness are certainly a factor in the former's success). A pseudo-autocratic free market of mathematically-inclined engineers and physicists creates wealth; a statist democracy of lawyers is a nation of squabblers. Only now is India taking off by exploiting a niche market, riding on the talents of software engineers. (One can postulate whether there is a relationship between Indian programming proclivity and spelling bee prowess.)

It will be interesting to note the dynamics of the growing Canadian South Asian population in coming years. My view is the first generation tends to small business entrepreneurship and the second generation will (abetted by strong parental influence) tend heavily to prestige professions in medicine, IT, science and engineering. However, the third generation (those raised by parents who were born and/or raised in the West) will move towards non-traditional verbal oriented fields where I believe brown people's true strengths lie. Russell Peters (brown Jerry Seinfeld) and Jian Ghomeshi (brown Carson Daly) are only heading this trend.

And so as the third generation comes of age, expect to see an explosion of South Asians in film, television, music and literature, as well as politics, law and academia. In this way I believe the South Asian trajectory will mirror the Jewish path, in that a small minority will wield a disporportionate share of influence.

Rating: 10/10