Today's rambling: "You're" favorite kind of entry!
Written on Saturday, Apr. 24, 2004 at 2:18 p.m.
while feeling a bit

It amazes me sometimes how poorly people my age (and even a bit older!) spell. Especially since half the people I know here at college are education majors. I'm not actually attacking anyone in particular, I've just noticed so many people who can't spell even basic words. Like 'appreciated' (I've seen it spelled 'appriciated' several times). And 'tortured'...I've seen that one spelled oddly, too. There are others (like 'plagiarism' being spelled 'plagerism'), but yeah, those are some examples.

I'm not saying everyone should be fantastic spellers. I mean, I get caught up all the time on 'recommend' for some reason (though I'm finally remembering that there are two m's instead of two c's, lol), and that's a common enough word. If it were something that nobody ever uses, I could understand that being misspelled. But most of the words people misspell are very common in the English language! For pity's sake, half the people I know can't even use your and you're properly! And I'm not just talking the occasional typo, they do it all the time. And I feel like I have some kind of radar for that one, lol, because if I'm reading something and I see it, I'll skim over it and then almost immediately go back and be like, "There's something wrong, here..."

Of course, I'm sure there are plenty of people who look at my grammar and wonder the same things I do about spelling. ;) Not that this diary is a prime example of my skills...I write in a stream of consciousness, so I always end up putting in commas whenever my thoughts pause for a moment. And I never proofread anything (unless there are glaring errors, like forgetting to put a closing html tag on something), but I think my grammar (when I'm actually trying) isn't so bad. And spelling I've had a knack for since I was a kid, so maybe I shouldn't be so hard on people...

I'm not really so much astounded at the people, though...well, yes I am. Being in college, not able to tell the difference between your and you're (and there and their, etc.) is pretty bad, especially if you're going to be teaching kids. But then I get to wondering about education in general. When did teaching start to go so downhill? I'm sure it was before I started school, because not all of my teachers were the greatest, but it seems like we're seriously lacking in the education department.

LOL, I'm not even sure what got me on this rant. I think it's because I saw someone misspell 'plagiarism' on one of the message boards I go to. But I've been chuckling wryly for some time at the irony of education majors who can't spell simple words. And then I get to thinking what a great system Janette has (or would have, if those other teachers would get off her back), trying to teach her students the skills to be able to spell almost any word, rather than just telling them to memorize a list. I'm sure there still needs to be a little of the memorizing bit, but how great if they could be told a word they don't really know, and then using what she's taught them, figure out how to spell it on their own!

Oh well. Hopefully everyone will improve before they graduate, hee hee! I, on the other hand, am always going to stay absolutely terrible in Math. *sighs* I can add basic numbers, though, so I guess I've got a good start. ;)