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The author is well aware of the tradition of hand-wringing he is joining; He makes reference to Plato’s Phaedrus! But he doesn't actually make an argument for w
by afarrell 12y ago
The author is well aware of the tradition of hand-wringing he is joining; He makes reference to Plato’s Phaedrus! But he doesn't actually make an argument for why it actually matters that students don't learn to spell English's arbitrary orthography. His introductory example of GPS and wilderness survival is the only compelling case.
- jordanpg 12y agoAgreed. This reads like the book jacket. A short advert for another Atlantic author's most recent book.
- fallinghawks 12y agoI think it's ludicrous that spelling skills would be "eroded" by spell checkers and drop-downs. If anything, steady exposure to corrections to misspellings would teach one to spell correctly the first time (though errors like 'their' vs 'there' might still be an issue).
- afarrell 12y agoIndeed. Except for a few words like "exercise", which I can never figure out how to spell correctly on my own.