Sum Englysh peeple tooday just carnt spel if there lives dipended on it! And gess wot, exkuses are beeing mayd for them by the peeple whu do the teeching. A lekturer from one of Britans universatys has gon so far as to say wee shud even akcept sum wurds that ar speled badli as an alturnativ speling.
I'm sorry I just can't keep this up, it goes against every fibre of my body to write so badly. I often read the comments people send in on news stories when browsing the Internet news pages, and I am appalled and shocked when I see the level of illiteracy exhibited by so many writers, and I am not talking about children, but adults.
What is more, it distresses me no end to see the steady decline in written English standards over the decades. It has come to a point now where the majority of people who speak and write good English are foreigners who have English as a second language.
There is currently an article in the Times Educational Supplement written by a Ken Smith, a criminology lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University where he states that commonly misspelled words should be accepted as they are, such as 'judgment' for judgement, or 'truely' for truly.
In his view, Universities should accept the misspelled words as a viable alternative to the correct one, including all the exceptions to the 'i' before 'e' rule. My advice chum, stick to criminology!
This basic rule has been around for aeons in the English education system and has withstood the test of time. It is well known there are exceptions to this rule, and for this reason The Government of all people is urging schools not to teach it any more.
Bethen Marshall, a senior English lecturer at King's College London has said; "if you change it and say we won't have this rule, then we won't have any rules at all, then spelling, which is already terribly confusing, becomes even more so". The government document, called Advice for Spelling' (or should that be 'Advise for Speling?) has been issued for 'under-11's as part of the National Primary Strategy.
This document advises other methods of teaching children spelling, like, would you believe, studying TV listings for compound words!?!?! If the government cannot get its act together, how on earth can they expect the teaching profession, which has been failing students for decades, to pull its collective socks up!
Westminster Endowed Church of England Primary School in Stroud has now gone so far as to stop giving its pupils spelling lesson homework because "the children find it so distressing". Gloucestershire County Council, responsible for the school, said; "it was entirely up to the school to decide if they wish to use spelling lists". Its statement went on to add; "It is important to recognise the strengths a variety of approaches can bring". 'Atchooo!' Sorry I just sneezed, I'm allergic to bullshit!
I know personally many Germans, Danish, Romanians, Spanish, Dutch and Italians (Well-a maybe-a not-a the-a Italians-a) who speak, read, write, and spell, better than the average English person! Hell! Even some Americans speak better English than the English! Sorry guys and gals, just kidding!
The decline in standards has gone down to the extent that a government report last year stated, 4 out of every 5 children leaving school could not read and write properly.
We are talking about the English language here, the most widely spoken international language on the planet, and England, its birthplace.
The question is, can this problem be fixed? I am afraid the answer appears to be, no definitely not! Part of what is happening is due to the increasing influence allowed, and in some cases encouraged by the government and schools, of the immigrant population.
Some schools reported recently requests to go over to teaching in a foreign language such as Turkish or Hindu, because of the high number of Turkish or inversely, Indian or Pakistani pupils. Why in the name of Heaven should an English school, in England, teach the National Curriculum in a foreign language? It is just too bizaar to believe.
The losers in all this have to be the native English children who are being marginalised in favour of the immigrant population. This is one of the great tragedies of Britain today, but no-one seems to have the eyes to see it.
I firmly believe, and have often stated, that all immigrant children who come to Britain, must learn the language of their adopted home. Britain is the only country in the world that is turning its entire culture and beliefs over to new arrivals. Yes, there is justification for the immigrant population to retain their own culture and languages, but only so long as it does not affect or influence British culture.
Another reason why I think the decline cannot be reversed is simply there are few teachers capable of instructing the pupils in the correct use of the language, and the national curriculum doesn't provide for better teaching methods. Standards have degraded to such a low level over such a long period of time that many of the educators are lost. The only way forward is to bring back the National Curriculum of 50 years ago, and perhaps, bring all the teachers of that era out of retirement. The only other alternative is to ship all our school age children to Germany, Holland or Denmark to learn the language! It's all so very sad!
"'Scuse me Miss, how do you spell supercalifr.....that word?"
"I have no idea John now sit down."
Roy.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
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