Editorial
The matter of spelling
Let it be beyond reproach
There is always a time to go back to basics, especially where learning is concerned. And a serious aspect of learning has to do with spelling. That is one of the earliest phases we go through in school and from then on it remains our endeavour to achieve mastery over a part of education that must sustain us in our personal and professional life. It is in that spirit that we are pretty enthused by thoughts of a spelling competition which we understand will take place next year. The moving spirit behind this rather innocuous but nevertheless necessary exercise is Champs21, an initiative of this newspaper. And on board with it is GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh Ltd.
Of course, the spelling contest, in English, will involve students from classes six to ten from both Bangla and English medium schools. Now, the question just could come up as to why spelling needs to be part of a contest. A straight response to that is that there are hordes of people, and not just among the young at school, whose grasp of English word spelling remains in need of improvement. To be sure, there are other areas in the language --- phrases and idioms and the like --- which call for attention. Perhaps focused attention could be brought into these areas too. But, as examination papers have shown consistently, a failure to spell words correctly quite mars what otherwise might have been a healthy exercise. The problem is particularly acute in schools, both in urban and rural areas. There are, indeed, schools which have regular classes and exams on spelling. One wonders, though, if that could be turned into a nationwide trend.
Spelling correctly is important. And yet there have been historical figures whose sense of spelling has been appalling. The story, whether or not apocryphal, goes that an American president's poor spelling of 'all correct' led him to try 'oll korekt' and eventually to 'ok'. Good improvisation, but a rarity. Moral: our spelling needs to be beyond reproach.
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