while I'm procrastinating on that whole writing thing...

[mickeym]

Have a link. By way of dine:

Depresing Newz: Spelcheking During Exams Now OoKay Wit Oragan Schols - "The easiest way to learn how to spell a word right is to spell it wrong and be corrected. By giving kids a digital cheat sheet for every word in their written language, they won't have to learn anything."

And then I thanked Dine by venting all over her journal *g* This was what I said there:

The spelling thing is incredibly depressing, and unfortunately, not surprising. Matthew's been using a calculator in math classes since 6th grade -- they're a required school item, on the "supply list". Not only do they use them in class, but they use them for tests. My child has to be helped through adding anything more than two single digits together (he can't do division or subtraction at all without help). He's a sophomore in high school.

He's always amazed when I can do math in my head (nothing fancy, but I can add/subtract/multiply/divide with the best of 'em) -- quickly -- and I tell him that's because I was taught math when I went to school. He says, "I have math class!" and I tell him he's not being taught *how to do math*, he's being taught how to press buttons in certain orders on his calculator. Big difference. He's equally impressed when he asks how to spell something and I can rattle it off without hardly pausing. Yes, I use spellcheck when I type, but by and large? I KNOW HOW TO SPELL WITHOUT IT.

I read a few of the comments on the page with the spelling article, and got even more depressed. By one in particular, where the commenter was saying something to the effect of how spelling isn't a big deal anyway, since we have spellcheckers built into everything; it's not going to impact a child. Again, pointing to MY child as an example... Matthew is...just a hair above functionally illiterate. He can read, some. It's hard to say for sure what his exact level is, somewhere between 4th and 7th grade for ability (depends on what it is and how it's written), and between 6th and 9th for comprehension (I think). Spelling is a HUGE factor in that. He has trouble sounding words out, and hearing sounds within the words, and he doesn't know how to figure out how tell which is the right word if he's typing something, because his spelling ability is so bad.

He continues to take remedial reading/spelling/writing in school; he probably will all through school. And he's made progress, slowly. But it's incredibly depressing to read that schools are deliberately sabotaging something the kids NEED to learn as a basic skill. What if, heaven forbid, we had some catastrophic event that wiped out electronics, or whatever? Who's going to teach future generations to spell (and do math) if the current ones aren't learning?

Comments

[dine.livejournal.com]

what's a little venting between friends! I agree with every word - this is truly a stupid thing for the education bureaucracy to implement; it makes no sense, and cripples students' ability to actually learn basic skills

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

man.i remember wehn you could use calculators in college classes but were warned that on exams they weren't allowed (i dont think calculators were affordable for teens when i was in high school; i don't remember ever seeing them there, but thqat was the 70s).

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

I studied what was basically engineering/comp sci ~10 years ago and while we were allowed to use calculators, we got lectures repeatedly on the benefit of doing back-of-the-envelope type mental figuring to make sure that what the calculator said was actually in the right ballpark. (Because it's easy to enter a number incorrectly or misplace a decimal, and if you have an idea if it should be in the 100s or 10000s then you'll spot your error.)

So we were allowed to use them, but taught that they were a TOOL, not something to be relied upon blindly.

[fufaraw]

So, you're fifth in line at the supermarket checkout, you finally reach the register...which goes blank just as the drawer opens. You saw your total, in fact, it's already printed on the receipt tape hanging out of the machine, it just hadn't printed the spiel at the end. You owe $58.49. The cashier looks at the machine slack-jawed, whacks it a couple of times, then turns to you with a sheepish expression and shrugs. You proffer the three twenties, and she shakes her head. "I can't give you your change."

"Yes you can, your drawer is open. Just count the money back."

"But the computer doesn't say what I'm supposed to give you."

"This is sixty dollars, I owe you fifty-eight dollars and forty-nine cents. I give you the sixty, and you count from forty-nine cents."

"..."

"Fifty-eight forty-nine--one cent is fifty, a quarter is seventy-five, another quarter is fifty-nine dollars, and a one is sixty. Bingo. Easy, yeah?"

"..."

Also, A tells me they're not teaching cursive in fourth grade because nobody actually writes anything down any more.

With the insistent programming to eliminate introverted behavior and make all students conform to the groups' activities, lowering achievement standards to the lowest common denominator, and punishing rather than rewarding independent thought, public schools are becoming nothing more than warehouses where children are held for safekeeping (mostly) during the parents' working hours. Pfeh. We should pay daycare workers and teachers CEO salaries--they have custody of our future.

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

it's one thing to say that (comprehensible) spelling mistakes won't be counted against someone in their history essays, but in *tests of writing ability*? (I say this as a dyslexic...)