A sign outside a School spelt incorrectly.
tinyurl.com/7b88kvv - links to Yahoo
|
|
We were at the grandbrats (primary) school fair a few weeks ago, we noticed some glaring spelling mistakes of simple words in the signs the kids had made. On mentioning it to a teacher we were informed that "All the signs have been vetted by a teacher". We are doomed!
|
|
The school playing field near my house is fringed with the council education department's signs prohibiting the 'excercising' of dogs.
|
Thats outrageous
All those poor obese dogs, the local will have to pay for emoshunal counseling
|
|
I understand that some schools, some teachers and even some Examination Boards operate a policy that spelling and grammar don't matter so long the meaning is there! English certainly isn't that easy; think of the different pronunciations of "ough" as in, cough, bough and rough. Must be really confusing to foreigners and many of our younger school pupils!
|
>> I understand that some schools, some teachers and even some Examination Boards operate a policy
>> that spelling and grammar don't matter so long the meaning is there! English certainly isn't
>> that easy; think of the different pronunciations of "ough" as in, cough, bough and rough.
>> Must be really confusing to foreigners and many of our younger school pupils!
>>
What a load of cobblers, If you are going to teach English you might as well do it properly.
Or is it that the current batch of teachers are not up to the job?
|
|
Or maybe they are trying to change the English language to get rid of some of its more stupid foibles.
|
|
No wonder many of our kids are unemployable, as in semi illiterate.
|
It isn't cobblers, whatever that is! Many children end full time education functionally illiterate and unable to do simple maths and mental arithmetic. It is either policy or a carp system or a combination of the two. Thousands of children get no decent GCSE grades in any subject, can't write a CV so even allowing for the fact that many of them may be lazy or unwilling to learn the system is not working well.
The following information relates to adults, who came through the system years ago, but there is little evidence that the education is any better, or is there?
n 2001, the former Department for Education and Skills launched the Skills for Life strategy with the aim of helping 2.25 million adults by 2010. Two years later, it established by survey that 75% of the working-age adult population had numeracy skills below the level of a good pass at GCSE and 56% had similar literacy skills. At that time, the OECD ranked the UK 14th in international literacy and numeracy league tables.
Last edited by: Meldrew on Mon 30 Jan 12 at 09:16
|
>> It isn't cobblers, whatever that is!
tinyurl.com/6q97nkh
|
|
Thanks gastropod. I am now better informed but no wiser!
|
>>Many children end full time education functionally illiterate and
>> unable to do simple maths and mental arithmetic. It is either policy or a carp
>> system or a combination of the two. Thousands of children get no decent GCSE grades
>> in any subject, can't write a CV so even allowing for the fact that many
>> of them may be lazy or unwilling to learn the system is not working well.
That's because there's no discipline in schools any more...so the unruly rule...and those willing to learn don't.
|
|
Are there any hard statistics to support the belief that there are more illiterate people now than there were 20,30 or 40 years ago? Certainly any one dealing with the public in a situation where they are required to fill in forms will know that there is a substantial proportion of people of all ages who cannot effectively read and write. Many conceal it quite well and are quite ashamed of the fact.
|
>> Are there any hard statistics to support the belief that there are more illiterate people
>> now than there were 20,30 or 40 years ago?
At work, I could tell from the grammar and punctuation in a technical report whether the writer
was younger or older than about 35.
|
|
Many of the really bad illiterates and innumerates are in the jail population.
|
I would agree with you about spelling particularly the generation who were unfortunate to be taught by the "look and learn" system but this has now been out of favour for many years.
However what I am talking about are not those with poor spelling or week grammar but those those who can't actually read to a practical level. - say reading a page of the Sun or the Mail.
My impression is that there has always been a fairly substantial proportion of people in this category but am unable to find any real statistics on the subject
|
>> there is a substantial proportion of people of all ages who cannot effectively read and write.
>> Many conceal it quite well
I remember as a child, my parents "doing the paperwork" i.e. bills and letters, for my grandparents. They were successful country folk but had to concentrate to write their name and address on forms. I drew from this, and the fact they had left school barely into their teens, that their literacy skills were both poor and rarely called upon.
As an aside, recently I received a letter from school signed per pro "The Governor's".
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Mon 30 Jan 12 at 17:29
|
When I talk to other trainers, I find that it isn't just me who is discovering that there are quite a few older lorry drivers around who don't read or write too well.
They are excellent and reliable at their jobs, good at customer service and don't have accidents, but get by with addresses (sp?) the same way as I do in Wales.
I take the delivery notes into a shop and ask 'Can you tell me where that is please'
We all find ways to work around things we find hard to do, and tend to be excellent in other areas due to feeling guilty about our failings, so the overall package is a very good one.
Pat
|
>> n 2001, the former Department for Education and Skills launched the Skills for Life strategy
>> with the aim of helping 2.25 million adults by 2010. Two years later, it established
>> by survey that 75% of the working-age adult population had numeracy skills below the level
>> of a good pass at GCSE and 56% had similar literacy skills. At that time,
>> the OECD ranked the UK 14th in international literacy and numeracy league tables.
Ironically, the problem may be too much emphasis on GCSE or more particulalry league tables. A 'good' GCSE in English or Maths is presumably A* to C. Albeit there is some argument about falling standards those are O level standard results; some way beyond being literate or numerate.
Too much time spent getting borderline D's into C and so on. Not enough making sure those for whom O level was never a possibilty remain valued, engaged and thus educated.
|
>> ........ spelling and grammar don't matter .........
It certainly mattered in technical reports that were written in our R&D department at work.
|
Well of course illiteracy does not matter nor does getting a job.
The State will provide..
|
|
.......and there is a functional illiterate in charge of a major UK soccer team! (He claims!)
|
|
Nifty with money though! Tactical dyslexia perhaps? See Benefits thread!
|
|
Not if half what he says is true.
|
My grandad was illiterate.He owned some shipping and his own hotel.
He could talk and fight tough little bloke.>:)
|
Schools ignoring poor spelling and bad grammar are setting their pupils up for failure if they get to University.
Eldest son, presently in his second year of a B.Sc.(Hons) Computing course, now gets all his assignments checked by me then his sister (Linguistics degree and now a teacher) before submitting them after the 'spell check' (obviously) missed that he had typed 'are' instead of 'our' and he lost marks on an otherwise faultless piece of work. It made little difference to him but would have mattered to someone with borderline marks.
|
14 years ago 2 x boys in final year. Dissertation to be handed in in May.
Feb - experiments completed and results in - just to write it!
Written and amended over 3 months - spell checked numerous times by me, lots of techie stuff but the spelling was A1 and the grammar sorted.
Off to Uni with the disk, print on special paper and just the covers to add.
Printed 3 copies and brought home 1 after handing in 2 copies, Red cover really set it off - names, tutor, dept, dated and the research topic + 1 x spelling error in about 20 words.
Dyslexia rules - 13 years earlier, aged 8 years, we started tackling spelling issues with the twins and it bites you in the bum at the last throw of the dice at Uni..
1st & 2.1 in Process Engineering so it was not that bad.
13.5 yrs later 1 x head designer engineer on £400m oil/gas project, the other with dept of 100 graduate engineers and a nnual budget of £300m - YET Spelling / choosing the right word still an issue.
Last edited by: Falkirk Bairn on Mon 30 Jan 12 at 18:38
|
As an old 'T' shirt that I can no longer fit into used to say
DYSLEXIA LURES
KO!
|
>> DYSLEXIA LURES KO!
The old ones are the best!
|
Coincidentally, just had an email from a cousin asking me if I had any "stuff" on our Grandparents (born in 1890s) for some "family tree" research she is doing.
They all left school aged 14 or 15. Found (in a big box left to me by my Dad) loads of letters, war diaries, postcards, job applications ("You have been taken on as a warehouseman at a wage of 5/- per week. This pay will be reviewed when you have been with the company for one year"!!).
All of them were written and replied to in crystal clear "copperplate" handwriting and I don't think there is a spelling mistake in any of them.
Now, I was a teacher for nearly 40 years, I marked and corrected thousands of exercise books and essays (up to A level standard) in that time. Very rare was the essay which didn't contain spelling/expression mistakes and equally rare was clear handwriting. I also remember being criticised by a schools' inspector for correcting spelling and expression mistakes in A level essays because "as long as you can understand what the pupil is TRYING to say you shouldn't correct it - it's a very negative approach to correct every mistake"
|
It is certainly a feature of anyone educated before the second world war that they will mostly likely have excellent hand writing. The style is nor really copperplate but a looped cursive. From the fifties onwards I think most schools taught an Italic hand. Many children now seem only to print. I suppose it is inevitable that the standard in handwriting has declined as the typewriter and then the computer largely replaced the need for a clear and fast method of writing.
Whether of course a clear hand writing style signifies a particularly deep education is another matter but it certainly is much more pleasant to read than a lot of modern scribble.
|
|
My writing is dreadful but I do recall that, at a very young age, I did an exercise called pothooks and hangers where one drew these shapes as they are the basis of many letters y g q l m n etc Did not work for me. As others have said good handwriting is a pleasure to see and read but is not often seen these days!
|
Must be catching as BT don't know how to spell skhool either.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-17275999
Children in Oxfordshire have been left doubting their text books after seeing a botched road marking outside their school.
A bungling road painter has left the word "schoul" written on the street outside Wolvercote Primary.
An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman blamed BT contractors for the error.
In a statement BT said: "All we can say at the moment is that our contractors are investigating whether they carried out this work on BT's behalf."
|
In for a bad spell - Old Navy
