Is spelling important?

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Rocky

Hello decadence
So did he go down?
Es, he got 20 ears.
 

Kempstonian

Has the memory of a goldfish
Location
Bedford
You must have been at a better school and had better parents than mine, I could not read well until I was getting on for 11. My kids on the other hand were at a higher level before they started school than I was at after 6 years at it.
Well I've got no complaints with either school or parents. The school stuff was boring by today's standards - the arithmetic was repetetive stuff that stuck in your brain, being learnt parrot fashion. When we arrived at the classroom the teacher wasn't usually there, but he had written two numbers on the blackboard - say a 4 and a 9 - and we had to chant the multiplication tables for each number (in unison) until the teacher arrived. But you never forget it. Even now I don't have to think when multiplying two numbers, the answer is just there... its automatic.
In English lessons they concentrated on the basic things, on the basis that it would benefit us later on.
Maybe it was a good school, maybe it was just the norm in those days.
My parents were both working, so had little time to help much - other than making sure I attended school and didn't bunk off! They also made sure I did my homework too.
 

Joey Shabadoo

My pronouns are "He", "Him" and "buggerlugs"
At Primary School, spelling was seen as important and every Friday was a spelling test. I was always chuffed that I had a 100% record (I don't think it was that hard tbh). At High School, I got a lot of detention from my English teacher who, as a punishment exercise, made me copy out the dictionary. I was up to "m" when I left school. Both gave me a good grounding in spelling.

Unfortunately, I went to school when the fashion in education was not to judge handwriting and mine was awful. When my parents brought it up at Parent Evenings, they were told presentation wasn't as important as content.

The result is my handwriting is appalling even now and I find it hard to change.

I'm not a teacher and hopefully there are some here because surely the terrible spelling we see now is a deliberate facet of education and not some crazy coincidence where half of Facebook can't distinguish between "lose" and "loose"?
 
OP
OP
colly

colly

Re member eR
Location
Leeds
See now that might just be ironic.





Probably isn't but ...
 

nickyboy

Norven Mankey
Indeed, but sometimes those are necessary to understand what's being said.

Controversial things, semi-colons; there are some people who would say they should never be placed anywhere.
Indeed, but rarely is someone's spelling etc so poor as to result in misinterpretation
I'm thinking more about those who bang on about split infinitives, countable nouns, past perfect/past imperfect tenses. Stuff that if you get it "wrong" still doesn't result in misinterpretation. Who cares?
 
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