Spring Break
OP-ED: A generation lazy and spellbound by spell checkers
by Brooke Linden
Forum | 3/14/06
Posted online at 12:07 AM EST on 3/14/06
A major fear of mine is writing an e-mail to a professor and forgetting to spell-check it. Since Webmail does not underscore misspelled words, and I am almost out of the habit of actively recognizing spelling errors, I always have to remember to press "spell check." I have written e-mails, even very recently, which had spelling errors, but which I forgot to correct until just after pressing send. Incorrect spelling looks extremely unprofessional.
Let's not kid-few of us can spell everything correctly on the first try, but once we spell-check, we all have an equal opportunity not to look foolish. This just makes mistakes even more embarrassing. But spelling errors with professors can elicit more than shame; they can be harmful to a grade. I dread in-class essays most, which is odd because so much less is expected on these exams since we usually are expected to write whatever comes to our heads in order to beat the clock. Before such exams, I have often heard the question "does spelling count?" and a response of "yes" can be quite unnerving. Hand-held spell-check machines do exist, but there isn't time to pause on these exams to look up a problem word. As is the case in e-mail, these spelling errors look extremely unprofessional, and such errors suggest sloppiness, which can negatively affect the grade.
For the most part, bad spellers are hidden under the blanket of spell-checking tools, but from personal experience, I know that when I am writing by hand, I become nervous about presenting inadequately spelled work. While it is definitely more efficient to be a good speller, as long as students can get their hands on a spell-check program, and as long as they remember to use it as diligently as they remember to use deodorant in the morning, there will be no stink-stains on their writing.
Let's not kid-few of us can spell everything correctly on the first try, but once we spell-check, we all have an equal opportunity not to look foolish. This just makes mistakes even more embarrassing. But spelling errors with professors can elicit more than shame; they can be harmful to a grade. I dread in-class essays most, which is odd because so much less is expected on these exams since we usually are expected to write whatever comes to our heads in order to beat the clock. Before such exams, I have often heard the question "does spelling count?" and a response of "yes" can be quite unnerving. Hand-held spell-check machines do exist, but there isn't time to pause on these exams to look up a problem word. As is the case in e-mail, these spelling errors look extremely unprofessional, and such errors suggest sloppiness, which can negatively affect the grade.
For the most part, bad spellers are hidden under the blanket of spell-checking tools, but from personal experience, I know that when I am writing by hand, I become nervous about presenting inadequately spelled work. While it is definitely more efficient to be a good speller, as long as students can get their hands on a spell-check program, and as long as they remember to use it as diligently as they remember to use deodorant in the morning, there will be no stink-stains on their writing.
