>Look at the
>caliber of homework now compared to 30 years ago. Now you
>have to work on a project like a professional writer,
>editor, photo-layout artist, etc. They have to use
>spell-check to cut time.
>
Each of the words that Shelly cited were correctly spelled in his post, just as they usually are when they are being misused! The problem with spell checkers is that they cannot tell an ignorant author that a correctly spelled word is misused. For that we need to use a grammar checker... or simply apply what we are supposed to have learned in school!

It's outrageous how many misused words are found in commercially published books -- especially paperbacks -- now that the human proofreader has been replaced by an electronic one...

>
>Let's face
>it. We had TIME to learn spelling. How can you learn it
>now with satelite TV, DVD's, computer games, internet, chat
>rooms, and most kids have jobs too.
>
Simple... Turn that stuff OFF! We had TV and radio, records, and friends to occupy our time. All of that took a rightful "back seat" to the schoolwork/homework/chores trio. Now, it seems like we place entertainment and amusement above responsibility in importance, and we allow the machines to supervise the children. Kid's bored? Stick him in front of the TV, or on the PC to burn up a few hours. Read a book?? Only if it's online! :)

>
>No wonder spelling has gone down the toilet. It's become a
>trivial detail that no one has time for or cares about.
>Like shoe polish.
>
>I am willing to let their spelling slide. When they need to
>know it, they will pay attention. Some people may be just
>lazy typists.
>
No... when they "need to know it", they'll just stick in whatever "looks good" and let it slide -- after all, that's what they've always been allowed to do before, and they've always gotten by with it...

>
>Hey....did you ever have to look up a word in the dictionary
>but you couldn't find it? That happens to me a few times.
>You can't figure out what the first few letters of the word
>are.
>
LOL -- that's why they taught us all of those "silly" rules about spelling! I saw an ad once for a "phonetic dictionary" -- you would look a word up by it's phonetics (sounds) to find it's correct spelling. Have we really sunk that low?? Oh yeah -- I guess you have to know the proper pronunciation of a word to find it there, huh?