THE ART OF SPELLING

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 125, 29 May 1930, Page 8

THE ART OF SPELLING

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I read with interest the report from your New York correspondent of a spelling bee between legislators and pressmen, and the dire fate that met these spelling champions. It is certainly surprising that ■ such relatively simple words caused the downfall of persons presuin- ■ ably held high for their prominence and intelligence. I wonder, however, whether our own standard of spelling amongst public men would be any better. My convinced opinion fr^om handling a_ goodly volume of correspondence, and seeing the efforts of thfc product of our primary and secondary schools, is that the standard of spelling in New Zealand tp-day is deplorably low. On a venture Tasked acquaintances how to spell words included in your list, and the percentage of failure was eight out of ten. It is rare, indeed, that we can find a junior typist who' can spell.. The majority make some quite hideous mistakes, and even when provided with a dictionary make but little use of it. In general correspondence recently I received such simple words as "know' spelled as "no," and the word "new as "knew." Degree men of my acquaintance are not good spellers, and only a few nights ago I asked a professor what the standard of spelling was like, and. he frankly intimated it was deplorable. Ine phonetic spelling on which our youngsters are trained these days certainly gives them ready adaptability in reading, but leaves theni lamentably weak in my experience in spelling. I wonder if a spelling bee were held in Wellington what the result* would show.-I am, etc., DIOGEMS>