Children are being held back at school because they are forced to memorise irregular spellings and learn how to use the apostrophe, a leading academic will claim this week.
John Wells, Emeritus Professor of Phonetics at University College London and president of the Spelling Society, will use the society’s centenary dinner this week to call for a “freeing up” of English spelling.
“In Finnish, once you have learned the letters, you know how to spell, so it would be ludicrous to hold spelling tests. In countries like Italy and Spain it’s similar. But with English it’s not phonetic, and there are just so many irregularities,” he told The Times.
“It seems to be a great pity that English-speaking countries are holding back children in this way.
Professor Wells pointed towards the emerging technologies that are leading to a reevaluation of spelling, saying: “Text messaging, e-mail and internet chat rooms are showing us the way forward for English.”
o now i sadd doz pur kizz waddawi gunadu?
What the he11. Lets just give it up to text slang then. Wt R U gnna Do abt it?
OR go all the way, give up on american english completely, lets try classical Latin? Quidqui est Latine?
OR go with the planetary majority, and start on Mandarin?
#11 “In my country of origin language reformers did exactly that in early 19th century (so, about 150 years ago).”
So, how do kids now read what was written prior to the “reformation”?
I’m a US citizen living in Spain who’s raised 3 boys here. My youngest just started 1st grade and already knows how to read, add and subtract. Same was true of my other 2 boys, what’s more, right from the beginning the school teaches in a bi-lingual format (Spanish and Basque) add to that we speak english at home and my 6 year old is tri-lingual. It’s not just boasting, the point I’m trying to make is there’s always time to reduce a demanding educational program. Believe me they can take it.
In the end I came to the conclusion that the US doesn’t want an ‘overly’ educated population – It’s bad for the economy and for military recruitment.
So many idiots here seem to have only read the title and formed an opinion.
READ THE EFFEN ARTICLE BEFORE YOU PUT YOU COLLECTIVE FEET IN YOUR MOUNT !!! Yes Breetai, Russel, Cow-Paddy, becagle, and HannahMontanna, this includes you.
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#21, Estaban,
Let ‘em use the word “ain’t” if they like, but make sure they spell it right.
FYI, “ain’t” is a contraction for “I am not”. During the 19th century it fell out of favor with those who know better. We should teach them to use it correctly instead.
#24,
A “faggot” is a bundle of firewood.
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#30, Eddie,
I too started reading at an early age yet I am a terrible speller. I thank whoever invented the spell-checker. I don’t worship the guy, but I do hold him in high esteem.
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#31, Bobbo,
Recall those joke IQ tests that ask you to count the number of “f’s” in a short sentence
I used several of those types of tests to educate people in Quality. The test was to give a sample of writing and ask the group to count the number of a specific letter under a time limit. Since there was insufficient time to complete the test and no one ever got the correct number anyway it was to demonstrate that 100% inspection does not work. This would lead in to how to make a product that didn’t have flaws.
And some people on this site didn’t believe me when I said this is the types of education that gets pushed by elites. I say shut down the schools of education where they teach this garbage. There is an emphasis on whole word readings instead of phonics, don’t correct kids spelling, and use calculators instead of learning arithmetic.
#37 “READ THE EFFEN ARTICLE”
We did. That’s why we condemned it.
Mr. Confusion:
what?
Lizun hue geyez. Sphellin aint dat impordant. Eyes nevah has know proplem wid peephole undestanzin mee! Dah wazie eye seeidit, youz
echeads, widya fansee-smansee inertubes anyah
doulbelhuew doubleheww doublehue dotscomzes donut
undestanz us regular jow belows. Sew liden up ahh
liddle, willyaz?
Anyone else see this as the first steps towards newspeak? I think taking spelling out of schools is ++bad. Also who the heck had trouble with apostrophes?