Greetings, Mike --
Well, here's a chance to tell my two favorite spelling stories...
1) Way back... When I was young and foolish... We were having dinner with
the parents of a teen. The mom was worried about the youngster's spelling.
I told her, "Don't worry... Within a few years computers will take care of
spelling!" The mother choked on her food and was not amused.
I've mellowed a bit since then to believe that spelling is involved in
distinguishing meanings and really understanding words.
2) A good friend and mentor, one of the smartest and most successful
people I know, and now the dean of a top business school, came back from a
meeting looking a bit down. I asked what was wrong. He replied, "They
*laughed* when I wrote the word 'curriculum' on the board!"
Mike, if the school's draconian measures work, then it will have been
worth it. If not, I hope your son is able to shrug off the experience and
go with his strengths.
-- Rick
On Thu, 8 May 1997, Michael Gort wrote:
> ... But he does not spell well, and in fact,
> cannot understand why spelling is such an important element of school.
> Having been computer literate for most of his life, he understand how
> easily spell checkers handle spelling errors, and therefore does recognize
> the importance of spelling. His school, of course, believes spelling to
> be as important as values and character, and is putting intense pressure
> on him to improve his spelling.
--
Richard Karash ("Rick") | <http://world.std.com/~rkarash>
Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | email: rkarash@karash.com
"Towards learning organizations" | Host for Learning-Org Mailing List
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