Thursday, September 08, 2005

Gonna Put A Spell On You

Finding ourselves in the mood for some outrage television, we decided to watch A Current Affair this evening, particularly their report on teachers' inability to spell.

Ray Mate revealed that 85% of teachers cannot spell while Brendan Nelson sheeted home the blame to educational ideologues and state education ministers (while doing an excellent impersonation of a beanheaded animatronic character - not a good look, Bren).

If anyone thinks illiterate teachers are news, they should talk to a chum of ours, who prior to photographing a classroom in the early 1990s suggested the teacher might like to correct "the misspelling" she had written on the blackboard. The teacher asked: "What misspelling?"

When the error was pointed out to her, she corrected it huffily, complaining: "I must have been in a hurry."

Being in a hurry is no excuse for sloppiness. You can either spell or you can't. She couldn't spell back then and neither can 85% of her compatriots today.

However, why should we blame them? They are, after all, products of... The Education System.

-- Nick

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