National Geography Bee

May 25-26, 2004

As many of you already know, Matt is a math and geography (and science, and just about everything) buff.  If there are facts or theories or laws involved in learning about a subject, he is in heaven.

Well, as fewer of you might know, we home school our children.  Not because of Matt’s occasional missing of school due to gigs, but because we have two bright children who don’t “fit the mold”.  The fact that they cannot sit still or need to wander and to take breaks is not an issue at OUR school, so they thrive.  We have found that if we give them the right information and make material fun and available, they just can’t get enough of it.  They choose educational television (when it is watched), and explore nature and their environment by being a part of it.  They love learning, and to be truthful, we love seeing the world through their eager eyes.  The world is a miraculous place in the eyes of a child, albeit a confusing one when world events are cruel.  Children are beings who believe everyone is equal and that fighting is not a way to solve problems.  Matt once suggested that instead of wars, there should be Karaoke contests, judged by an international, non-partisan panel.  Wouldn’t that be great?  Of course WE know that things don’t work that way and issues are much more complicated than they seem superficially.  But what a nice dream…

Anyway, sorry to digress...

Matt loves geography.  It is not yet directly part of our curriculum, although the children read books that take place in different parts of the world and we research those places, as well as places discussed in current events.  And because of Matt’s interest, we have started to budget some time for geography.  However, Matt’s knowledge of geography comes from his love of looking at The WORLD ATLAS and looking at maps of the locations to which we travel for his music gigs.  He just enjoys reading maps, drawing maps, and learning facts about countries, whether those facts have to do with economics, population, politics, geology, or anything else.

So, needless to say, we were proud of him when he competed in the state level of the National Geography Bee and won.  He represented the State of New Hampshire at the National competition in Washington, DC the last week of May.  In case you are interested, the question he answered to win his title as New Hampshire State champion was “What Caribbean island, whose capital is Plymouth, was destroyed by a volcano in 1997?”  (I may not have worded this verbatim, but you get the gist).  The answer? MONTSERRAT.  With that we were sent to Washington, DC to compete against the winners from each other US state, and territory.  There were approximately 55 kids in all who participated.

It was an amazing competition.  The children who competed at this level were obviously well versed in geography.  I didn’t know many of the answers.  But then again, I don’t know MANY of the things known by Matt.  Teaching someone like him means that you can’t have ANY ego involved.  I WAS kind of embarrassed when at the end of the competition the NGS (National Geographic Society) gave a plaque to the teachers of the students involved in the National finals.  Larry and I can’t take credit for Matt’s knowledge.  We didn’t teach him what he knows or make him study.  Matt did everything on his own.  And he did it in his “spare time” and whenever the mood struck him.  He didn’t study obsessively for the competition, as do many of the children who make it to this level of the Bee.  In order to make it to the National competition, these 55 children proved they knew more geography than 5 million other children.  That boggles my mind.  And geography is just a sideline for Matt.  I sheepishly accepted the plaque on behalf of both Larry and me, but Larry and I aren’t REALLY Matt’s teachers.  We just guide him, answer questions when we know the answers, and direct or help him research the answers when the answer is not known by either of us.  Both my husband and I attended topnotch universities, with my receiving a BA at an Ivy League school and my husband receiving a Masters in Chemical Engineering.  Both of us have had teaching experience.  However, teaching one’s own children is different from teaching a class.  It is FAR more enriching and intense and challenging.  I am thrilled when Matt stumps us both.

Anyway, Matt, did well in the preliminaries, but lost there.  Losing was a difficult thing for him.  He had to learn that he doesn’t know everything.  He had to learn about losing gracefully, about “luck of the draw”, and that sometimes life just isn’t fair (or doesn’t SEEM to be).  He said he knew every answer to every question asked to every other child.  They were all easy for him.  Then, when it was his turn, the question asked was something in a completely different category of difficulty than the other questions asked during that round.  Unfortunately, there was some truth to his statements.  Even I recognized and was surprised by the differences in difficulty level of some of the questions.  One assumes that a national competition would attempt to maintain the same difficulty level across the board in the questions asked to its competitors during each round.  Unfortunately, this is not the case in ANY competition. And there is always “luck of the draw”.  If any of you watched the National Spelling Bee, you’ll understand what I mean.  In Matt’s group, there were three children who kept getting asked these “more difficult” questions…Matt and two other boys.  The other two boys handled the difficult questions and went on to compete in the finals.  One of the two boys (from Kansas) went on to win the overall competition to become the National Champion.  Amazingly, four of the ten finalists came from Matt’s preliminary round group.  He was up against some good geographers!  Matt was extremely upset about the fact that he kept receiving difficult questions and that he was therefore eliminated from the competition.

But, it was an important lesson for him to learn about competition.  I pointed out to him that the questions asked to him were difficult for him because he just hadn’t studied those areas of geography.  Just as he said he knew the answers to the other children’s questions, I suggested that perhaps the other children knew the answers to HIS questions and thought HIS questions were easy because they had studied those pieces of information.  I also pointed out that the other children spent hours every day studying for the competition.  Geography is the focus in their lives.  It is not the focus in Matt’s life.  He can’t, therefore, expect to have the same level of knowledge as someone who studies geography all the time.  If he had studied and HAD more knowledge, then receiving the difficult questions would not have been a problem for him.  He would have known the answers.  I pointed out that the two other children who kept receiving the difficult questions STILL answered the questions correctly and went on to the finals.

I pointed out to him that we were unbelievably proud of him for having gone as far as he did in the competition, that he himself had beaten thousands of children to get to the Nationals.  But he kept focusing on the “luck of the draw” issue and the fact that it wasn’t fair.  I countered that even if he had won the preliminary round, he would not have won at the finals.  The questions were just too difficult for someone who was a part-time geography lover to have answered.  He acknowledged all of this on an intellectual level, but struggled with his loss on an emotional level.  It was difficult for all of us, but, as I said, he learned a valuable lesson to help him in life.  Things aren’t always fair.  And he doesn’t know everything, even though he WANTS to know everything.  He can’t.  No one can.  And there is always SOMEONE who can do something better than you.  People have different levels of ability and different skills.  That is what makes the world what it is.  So you need to just be the best person you can be, follow your own path to happiness, and not worry about “being the best”.  Otherwise you end up living a life filled with anxiety and stress.  He’s still working on learning these lessons, as, I suppose, are we all.

Anyway, although he had lost at the preliminaries, we went to watch the finals, which were televised and hosted by “Jeopardy” host, Alex Trebek.  Matt said he pretended to be sitting in one of the ten finalist’s seats and seeing if he could answer all of the questions asked to that child.  The seat he chose happened to be the seat of the eventual “runner-up” in the Championship.  Matt said he got all of the answers correct except two.  When a tiebreaker was needed between the boy in “Matt’s seat” and the boy from Kansas, Matt said he got one question correct.  He was over his emotional rollercoaster of the day before and was just happily loving geography and answering the questions in his mind.  After the program was over, all of the contestants, including Matt, went up on stage for a photo shoot and an appearance on television.  Matt happened to stand one child away from Alex Trebek.  Alex looked over at Matt and (reading Matt’s name tag) said, “Hi Matt. Did you have fun at the Bee?” to which Matt happily answered “YES!”

At the end of the entire competition there was a banquet and award ceremony, in which the children received certificates for having participated in the Nationals, as well as blow up beach ball globes and other NGS things.  They had already received shirts, which they wore to their competitions.  But the most fun for the kids (and most chaotic part) occurred after the dinner.  All the children went into the hall of the National Geographic Society and exchanged gifts with each other contestant in the Bee.  We brought small bottles of Maple Syrup for each of the other children, as we represented NH at the Nationals.  (Vermont brought maple CANDIES, in case you were wondering about possible state conflicts).  Each child had something different and special from his or her individual state or territory.  It was a free for all, as a child needed to GET a present from the other children at the same time he/she needed to GIVE a present.  Plus, the children were given an autograph book, so they could remember one another.  So names were being signed, parents and teachers were helping swap things.  It was a free-for-all.  But it was completely exhilarating and a lot of fun.  All of the kids were relieved the competition was over, so they were just kids again.

Our experience at the Geography Bee was exciting, a learning experience, and fun.  Matt hopes to win for NH again next year and return to Nationals.  I remind him that he has a busy schedule with his music so he won’t have a lot of study time and that that old “luck of the draw” might happen to prevent him from winning even at the STATE level.  We told him we will allow him to compete again only if he has learned from his experience at the National competition and can lose graciously if he should lose, no matter WHAT the reason.  He says he understands, has learned the needed lessons, and still wants to go for it again.  We say… go for it.