[terry]

As a card-carrying member of the grammar police, I strongly dislike bad spelling. It's just that we have available instant tools for looking up correct spelling. . . .

Moreover, in an era when the skills people will need to succeed are creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork, being able to memorize a dictionary, while impressive, is a complete waste of time.

BC

I'm with oldalum. I strongly dislike bad spelling. But there's a difference between between being mindful of your spelling and doing what those kids do in the National Spelling Bee. Most of the words they're spelling are so obscure that nobody is ever going to see them, let alone need to spell them. And if by some chance one of those words ever were to come up, it would be easy to look up the spelling. I agree with BC that it's a massive waste of time to memorize the spelling of words like those. I suppose there's some value to developing the discipline needed in this competition, but there are other ways to develop discipline. The time spent on memorizing arcane words could have been spent on something more useful, such as learning a foreign language, learning a musical instrument, developing athletic skills, enjoying nature, or posting on the Cardboard.

[terry]

As a card-carrying member of the grammar police, I strongly dislike bad spelling. It's just that we have available instant tools for looking up correct spelling. . . .

Moreover, in an era when the skills people will need to succeed are creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork, being able to memorize a dictionary, while impressive, is a complete waste of time.

BC

I'm with oldalum. I strongly dislike bad spelling. But there's a difference between between being mindful of your spelling and doing what those kids do in the National Spelling Bee. Most of the words they're spelling are so obscure that nobody is ever going to see them, let alone need to spell them. And if by some chance one of those words ever were to come up, it would be easy to look up the spelling. I agree with BC that it's a massive waste of time to memorize the spelling of words like those. I suppose there's some value to developing the discipline needed in this competition, but there are other ways to develop discipline. The time spent on memorizing arcane words could have been spent on something more useful, such as learning a foreign language, learning a musical instrument, developing athletic skills, enjoying nature, or posting on the Cardboard.