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INVENTED SPELLING
--- ANOTHER ALICE-IN-WONDERLAND PUBLIC-SCHOOL THEORY by Joel
Turtel
As part of
the whole-language (or "balanced") reading-instruction philosophy, many public
schools now teach what they call “invented” or “creative”
spelling. Under this theory of spelling, teachers believe that forcing a child
to spell a word correctly thwarts the child's "creativity." So in classrooms
across America, many public-school teachers now encourage children to spell
words any way they like.
Also, many school officials now believe it is
not important to teach correct spelling because, so the theory goes, a child
will “eventually” learn to spell correctly. Unfortunately, millions
of children who start out as poor spellers, stay that way. How, in our
Alice-in-Wonderland public-school classrooms, will a child learn to spell
correctly if public schools think that correct spelling is meaningless?
Charles J. Sykes, author of "Dumbing Down Our Kids," provides the following
real-life examples of invented spelling in our public schools:
“Joan W. and Beverly J. [last names omitted for privacy] are not
experts. They just didn’t understand why their children weren’t
learning to write, spell, or read very well. They didn’t understand why
their children kept coming home with sloppy papers filled with spelling
mistakes and bad grammar and why teachers never corrected them or demanded
better work. Mrs. W. couldn’t fathom why her child’s teacher would
write a “Wow!” and award a check-plus (for above average work) to a
paper that read:
“I’m goin to has majik skates. Im goin to
go to disenalen. Im goin to bin my mom and dad and brusr and sisd. We r go to
se mickey mouse.”
On another assignment where the children were
told to write about why, where, and how they would run away from home without
their parents knowing about it, here’s what one child wrote: “I would
run awar because by mom and Dad don’t love me. I would run away with my
brother to the musan in mlewsky. We will use are packpacks and put all are
close in it. We will take a lot of mony with us so we can go on the bus to the
musam. We will stay there for a tlong timne so my mom and dad know they did not
love us.”
Not only is this child’s spelling atrocious and
the teacher’s “Wow” grade damaging to the child, but the lesson
itself is insidious. Should teachers be giving writing assignments to children
about how and why they should run away from home?
Spelling affects
people’s lives. A person who doesn’t spell words correctly can’t
communicate effectively with employees, supervisors, customers, patients,
clients, business associates, contractors, or parents. He or she can’t be
sure of the exact meaning of misspelled words in a contract, mortgage, medical
consent form, or other crucial documents or instructions.
Invented
spelling also makes a bad impression on employers and college admissions
officers. Yet many public schools no longer think spelling is important enough
to spend time on during the school day.
Parents, invented spelling is
yet another reason why you should seriously consider taking your children out
of public school and looking for better education alternatives elsewhere. The
Resources section in "Public Schools, Public Menace" describes many low-cost,
quality education alternatives you can take advantage of right now.
Article Copyrighted © 2005 by Joel Turtel.
About the
Author:
Joel Turtel is the author of “Public Schools, Public
Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children." Website:
http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com, Email:
lbooksusa@aol.com, Phone: 718-447-7348.
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