Spelling, Grammar and the like.

Originally Posted by Ed

My daughter's misspellings were never corrected. I asked the teacher why and she said that it would make the children feel like they were failures.

I sincerely hope you kicked up a severe storm over that one! Schools (and perticularly terrible teachers) are a bit of a sore point with me.

[Luckypants]

Well I blame both the teachers and the parents actually. Having recently finished bring up my two children, I can say that insisting on the use of good English in assignments they bring home is greeted by the assertion that Mr. Teacher says this is not important. If you take the teacher to task over this at a parent / teacher evening you are informed that little Jonny is correct - use of English is not important when communicating ideas on an unrelated subject. The only subject where the proper use of English is encouraged is English.

Many parents will give up well before this, as they do not see the value in communicating clearly in the written form. In fact a lot of parents could not give a hoot about school work since they do not see the value in it and are happy to abrogate their responibilities to the school. By doing this, they also feel justified in blaming the teachers, since they have delegated parental responsibility to the school; they jusy forgot to tell the teachers!

[dizzyblonde]

I did English language at A level and usually can spell without checking, and usually the grammar is not far off. When writing replies and such its usually in a can't be arsed way, not because I'm uneducated or just bad at it. My kids just learning how to write. The teacher, teaches through play, and apparently boys learn to write better if they can concentrate playing. My son has two left feet and is clumsy, which shows in his handwriting. But as he concentrates on co-ordinating outside its improving. Now all he needs is help in the right direction with spelling from me. Unfortunately parents these days expect teacher to do everything and do little themselves.

I'm so glad you used the word "many" in that post

I certainly have no problems to going way beyond the parent-teacher relationship to make my opinion known. Just as I'll happily walk in from a day in the office, and sit down with the kids to go through their homework, then put them to bed etc, and then, when I have the time, get something to eat!

Not all young parents (I'm only 24) fall into the stereotype, but granted, a fair chunk do unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Ed

My daughter's misspellings were never corrected. I asked the teacher why and she said that it would make the children feel like they were failures.

I don't mind a few spelling errors but, like Fizz, it's textspeak that I don't like.

My ex-girlfriend's mother is a deputy headmistress at a lower school in Norwich. She tells me that a Science teacher will not correct a child's spelling as the child is in their lesson to learn Science and not English. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I may not be the most intelligent guy in the world (I managed to get A level English, which isn't bad considering English wasn't then my first language) and I make mistakes in my grammar all the time, but I try to spell correctly and make my posts legible. I'm genuinely shocked at the quality of some younger people's English, and even my own kids' at times. My younger three all attend private schools, where they have quite high educational standards, but even those schools are limited as to what they can enforce now with Ofsted and the like breathing down their necks.

Seeing how teaching standards have dropped nationwide over the last 20 years has made me very glad I was taught in the age that I was. I delight in sending back my kids' school reports with the teacher's spelling and grammar mistakes highlited, and with a 6/10 score at the bottom of the page.

lots of parents, think its the teachers duty to do everything for the kids. we have just started a new tooth brushing scheme. how the hell is it the schools problem that the kids are not brushing their teeth. lack of discipline and stupid policies and new schemes are what drive me mad about my job. oh yeah and the kids, and lack of decent wages. but on the bright side 27 working days til end of term woohoo

Originally Posted by kitkat

lots of parents, think its the teachers duty to do everything for the kids. we have just started a new tooth brushing scheme. how the hell is it the schools problem that the kids are not brushing their teeth.

I agree completely kitkat. I seriously can't understand why you have had to do that, other than obviously bringing the kids awareness to brushing teeth (which they should of been doing way before they started school anyway).

With our kids, teeth are brushed every morning & every evening (more than my parents instilled into me!), and I'm happy to say that purely out of his own choice, my eldest brushes his teeth whenever he's near the bathroom (eg, if he goes to the toilet, he washes hands, then brushes teeth).

Originally Posted by kitkat

lots of parents, think its the teachers duty to do everything for the kids. we have just started a new tooth brushing scheme. how the hell is it the schools problem that the kids are not brushing their teeth. lack of discipline and stupid policies and new schemes are what drive me mad about my job. oh yeah and the kids, and lack of decent wages. but on the bright side 27 working days til end of term woohoo

You're dead right, we gave all our kids as much help as we could in our own time, and all four of them could read and write before starting school full time. However, the standard of teaching has most definitely dropped significantly over the last 20 years. Also, I remember having dental hygeine lessons in 1973, when I was 11 years old, it's nothing new.

bring back National Service

Originally Posted by Baph

and I'm happy to say that purely out of his own choice, my eldest brushes his teeth whenever he's near the bathroom (eg, if he goes to the toilet, he washes hands, then brushes teeth).

The poor sod will end up with OCDs. My son had to be coaxed out of OCDs when he was only 4 yrs old - he would freak if one of his shoes was out of line under his bed, or a book had been put back in the wrong place on the shelf.