The national spelling bee champs are really bright youngsters, but they may not be who you think.
Gone are days when European-heritage children named Johnny or Richard or Sally were the names you’d hear. Today’s winners have names such as Vanya and Gokul (2015), Ansun and Sriram (2014). Probably most of these children were born in and grew up in suburban America, just like my kids, but their parents or grandparents are foreign born, just like me.
My first name, which I’ve used since I was a child, is my confirmation name, not my given name — but it’s me. It’s a European name meaning pearl. I love it. But it continually amazes me that as the diversity of immigrants grows, the diversity of their names expands exponentially. And these people and their children are really smart.
The education ethic
Many of my clients are overseas professionals coming to work in fields ranging from medicine to engineering, law to academics and business. Just as their parents insisted upon attention to studies back home, so too do these new Americans require their children to buckle down and learn as much as possible.
I’m seeing this in the children who win scholarships I sponsor and in my summer interns. I’m so pleased when I see a youngster who has earned a 4.0 GPA and knows a couple of languages. It’s not the only predictor of success, but it tells me they care as much about attention to detail as I do.
But kids as linguistics scholars? Yes, we need more of that. Not just in spelling, but in science and math, too. I bet you didn’t know I was a chemistry and biology double major in college. It’s not highly material to my occupation, but I’m really sensitive to this need.
Linguistics pool growth
Our linguistics pool is growing as fast as our diversity. There are many legal terms I don’t know the exact meaning of in Greek or Latin, but I understand them through usage and case law. But all the languages that are making America strong are so diverse. I’m good at Mandarin, Cantonese and English. I talk daily to clients who know many languages, often the primary tongue such as Spanish, Russian, Arabic or Hindi and the local dialect. They’re learning English, too.
I say in my title “Tomorrow, doctors, lawyers and CEOs,” but of course it’s today. You’ve seen the article describing the 40 percent of Fortune 500 founders being foreign-born or their children. We’re only going to see that increase.
Entrepreneurs aren’t just CEOs. I recently nominated a foreign born doctor to another Cleveland business magazine’s “heath care hero” awards. This doctor has been so wonderful to my family, but also works hard spreading the word about America to visiting doctors and dignitaries from his home country; he is a medical entrepreneur.
The spelling bee champions of today are America’s entrepreneurial champions of tomorrow.
Margaret has been practicing immigration law for more than 38 years and is internationally renowned as an expert in the field. She is a co-chair of the National Asian American Bar Association’s Immigration Law Committee and an adjunct professor of Immigration Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She has the highest rating, AV, from Martindale-Hubbell and is recognized as a “Super Lawyer” and among the “Best Lawyers in America” by her peers. U.S. News and World Report ranked Margaret W. Wong & Associates Co. LPA as a Tier 1 law firm in 2014.
