In today\’s world, students are learning more and more advanced concepts at earlier and earlier ages. One good example of this growing trend is the subject of algebra, which used to be taught in high school or even college, but today can on some occasions be taught starting in middle school, and even sometimes before that. This is something that most people would probably see as a sign of progress in the fields of education and academics.

After all, if students are learning the same things, but just learning them earlier on in their school careers, doesn\’t that point to more opportunity down the line for students to learn even more advanced concepts as they continue to get older?

That is certainly a valid point, but there is another side to the question that can not be ignored in a society that wants to make progress and maintain an environment where students, from generation to generation, can continue to learn and grow beyond what those who came before them were able to do in their lifetimes.

In simple terms, it is of the utmost importance that, as we continue to improve ourselves, and to teach our children the more advanced subjects, we can in no way neglect to make sure that they have a solid grounding in the basics. It is a firm grasp of basic concepts that allows a learner to thrive and grow at the more difficult levels of any subject.

This brings us to perhaps the most ignored basic skill of them all. That is, of course, spelling. Perhaps more than any other single skill that people used to have a firm handle on by some time in elementary school, spelling as a discipline has declined unbelievably in recent years. There are quite a few possible reasons that one could list as an explanation for this problem, and unfortunately one would have to say that they all pretty much have roots in rapidly developing technology.

One of the biggest ways that kids learn to spell well, especially when it comes to less common words, is through reading books. When you see words over and over again on the printed page, you just automatically come to know how to spell them. However, when you don\’t see them in that way, it is easy to fail to acquire that knowledge.

As television and movies and video games become more and more popular, kids have less time for, and interest in, reading books. Add that to quick forms of communication like text messages, and sometimes e-mail (even that is too slow for most kids nowadays) where the writer frequently uses drastic abbreviation or \’stylized\’ versions of words such as \’l8r\’ and \’wuz\’ for \’later and \’was,\’ and it is a wonder that anyone can spell at all.

It might seem like this is just a nitpicky, obnoxious sort of thing to worry about, but there is a greater problem here. Learning how to spell well lays the foundation for a much better understanding of language. It causes you to learn how words are put together, where the come from, and what they mean. Frequently, you can even figure out the meaning of unusual words you do not know if you can recognize patterns of letters in the word and compare them to ones you already know. This is, of course, impossible if you do not know how to spell those other words in the first place.

The temptation to push today\’s children to ever greater heights of academic and intellectual achievement is understandable. However, doing this at the cost of losing the basics is simply unacceptable, not just because the basics are so important in themselves, but also because a student without a grasp on the basics of a subject will never be able to do well once he gets to the more difficult stuff. Spelling is every bit as important to any intellectual pursuit as any more glamorous aspect of academia.

Author Bio: Diana Washington is a writer for the Test Preparation Blog Testing Is Easy. She writes about a lot of different topics related to education, particularly teaching, standardized testing, and ISEE Test Prep, a major concern for parents of children trying to get into private schools.

Category: Education
Keywords: spelling,school,education,teachers,school,basics,students