Have a link. By way of
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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?
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