is our educational system really failing to the degree that people cannot spell anymore?

Question

and if so... and people are suppose to be so computer literate now - why the hell don't they use spell check???

Answer 1

Well, there are a lot of people that cannot spell on this site. Their grammar is atrocious too, but I have a feeling that these are people who not only graduated from high school, but from college as well.

As far as this site goes, I think most people have been sending too many instant messages and text messages, so they think it is fine that you is spelled "u" and what is spelled "wat." Of course, I just came across two questions that I've tried to block from my mind. One spelled deja vu as, "day sha voo", and the other one was a paragraph sized run on sentence that was lucky if "of" was spelled correctly.

As far as our high school educational system stands, I do believe it is failing. There was a special on Dateline (airs on NBC) that covered our sub-par average compared to other schools. Our schools are not held accountable for the grades that their pupils earn. Other countries run their schools just like a business. Parents choose what school their child will attend. If a school isn't doing its job, they go out of business due to lack of enrollment. That is why those countries are at the top of the list when world wide test scores are calculated. We continuously place money into schools that don't produce results. If we made this simple change we could dramatically improve our standards of education.

College is another issue in my opinion. The phrase " Not everyone is meant to go to college" has taken on a new meaning. This used to mean that you didn't have the intellect needed to be accepted. Now it means you can't afford to go. Colleges will accept anyone now and their standards on education have plummeted. I have tutored some college students on the subjects of english and mathematics and was appalled to see what they were handing out B grades for. Needless to say, I feel that some schools are just handing out a degree for the money.

Answer 2

No. People are actually better educated now than in the past, at least in the US.

What you are seeing is a much greater percentage of the poorly-educated population with access to a written medium. It used to be that only well-written compositions got seen by the general public. Today, anyone can access the web and say anything they want, and as poorly as they want.

Answer 3

Annie, they are not inturL-I-jent, duh.

So umm, yes? I don't really blame it on the educational system so much though, it's that damn MTV I say.