It's a classic example of liberalism -- acting as if compassion, understanding and equality are somehow served by a mere lowering of the standards.Here's a Daily Mail story about a senior lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University calling for a "spelling amnesty."
Dr. Ken Smith says, "Teaching a large first-year course at a British university, I am fed up with correcting my students' atrocious spelling. Aren't we all? But why must we suffer? Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I've got a better idea. University teachers should simply accept as variant spellings those words our students most commonly misspell."
Dr. Smith's "better idea" dramatically undercuts the very profession of teaching.
Is it easier to overlook students' mistakes? In the short run, sure. But education must take the long view...even when it takes a longer, more laborious road. Education takes work. For the teacher as well as the learner. But where is the motivation to strive for excellence, the pride of accomplishment, the success in reaching important new levels of expertise, if the profession becomes a matter of shortcuts, paternalism and compromise?
And where does it stop? After all, if we should give a "spelling amnesty" for 20 words, why not 50? Or 250? And why should we stop with only spelling mistakes? Certainly overworked teachers of math and science could stand to correct fewer errors in their student's work too, right? And then there's the history teachers -- who really cares about those dates, those distant battles, and who invented what?
Furthermore, dare we leave out the "amnesty" schemes that might be suggested by other teachers who want a break? The fine arts folks ("What is art anyway?"), the shop teachers ("That's alright, son. We can always call it a paper weight like your other mistakes."), and the driving instructors ("No, don't cry, Sally. You're allowed to run over two pedestrians before we start counting them against you. Start it up again and let's go on.")
You get the idea.
Of course, Dr. Smith's ideas are not really that novel. American teachers have been cutting corners on stuff like this for decades, earning them high marks (in their own minds anyhow) for tolerance and understanding. Though it means that their students earn lower, lower and lower marks for everything else.
