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Afterall a roz is a rose

The sudden decision of the Central Board of Secondary Examination to relax rules on spellings has generated mixed feelings. MALA KUMAR is outraged

Is spelling all that important? The recent announcement by the Central Board of Secondary Examination suggests that students can now take it eesi. The Board, in its present magnanimity, wants to see a maximum number of young people cross the `hurdle' called board exams. And since bad spelling has been pulling down a lot of students, CBSE has indicated that henceforth marks will not be cut for spelling errors in science and liberal arts (including literature) papers in Class 10 and 12 examinations.

Well, while the kind souls are at it, why not scrap trigonometry? And please cut out the history with all those complicated names of all those Mauryas and Mughals ... could never figure out whose father was who. And does your average guy ever need to know that the cat is actually Felix domestica? So, respected kind academicians, do consider cutting out all that crap in biology. And of course, considering most children flunk social studies because they can't remember whether a municipal corporation is a bigger cat than the legislative assembly, we request the nice CBSE folks to do away with civics. Ah, now our kids are going to have a report card worth framing!

Goes a long way

Pardon the sarcasm, but as a student of the CBSE system I learnt a lot. I learnt not just facts and figures and the correct spelling of nomenclature but also the process of learning to learn. My class learnt the beauty of words, we cursed the unscientific spellings of some others but we also learnt to cope with both. Yes, we learnt to cope. Today's child writes often on the computer, runs the spell check which has the audacity to say that I must spell my city Bungler and not Bangalore.

A correspondent wrote in The Guardian: "As a teacher, I have to teach that adequate spelling is necessary for communication, correct spelling for social advancement, and that the values implicit in each are very different."

The brain

Learning to spell challenges the brain. Every action and every thought process we begin stimulate a certain part of the brain. Schooling must involve challenging as many parts of a young brain. Learning to spell is as essential to the development of a growing mind as learning to ride a cycle, to eat well, to memorise the six times table and to learn that learning is essential at all times and ages. Isosceles can be spelt in at least 29 ways. "But students will remember the correct spelling if they are taught that the word is derived from iso (Greek isos for equal), sceles (skelos for leg)," wrote a mathematics teacher in The Times, London. A teacher taught me the mnemonic "I Saw Our Sherpas Climb Everest Last Easter Sunday" to help us spell the triangle. Good teachers, and not soft grading, improve the quality of learning.

Many experts believe that the more senses children use in learning a skill, the more likely they are to retain it. Writing, too, involves several brain areas and functions. The brain networks for vocabulary, grammar, hand movement, and memory which must all be in good working order.

As a fond mother of a daughter studying in Class 10 CBSE, I should be happy that she isn't going to lose marks for her spelling errors. But I'd rather she learnt to spell better, to respect conservative spellings, to learn to cope.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig!

"C wt I mn?" said my friend, the SMS pundit. But read what Sue Palmer of the United Kingdom Reading Association has to say: "The essence of the English cultural heritage is set out in the inconsistencies and irrelevancies of English spelling, and its weird, wonderful and totally irrational form. If it should be improved, this essence is lost."

Reforming spelling

Some groups like the Simplified Spelling Society (www.spellingsociety.org) disagree. They are out to reform English spelling for the benefit of learners and users everywhere. But the aim of the CBSE board, I assume, is to impart education, not show an auditing team that x million students have passed Class 10. Then why the softening when it comes to spelling? Every word has a certain aesthetic appeal, and a roz can never be a rose. Kan it?

And here's a letter circa 2010:

Dyar Sur,

I am sorry I cud not com for dhi intervyu. I am in hospital becos I gave birth to a fat vuman in a trane. I slept on top of her and fell down from top birth and broke my leg. I have passed broad exams very well. So pleez give me one mor chanz to attend the intervu."

If you were hiring would you make him your office assistant?

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