Yep, I've spelt "spelling" wrong deliberately because I read yesterday that it takes the average British kid 3 years - yes, 3 years - to spell at a basic levelNow, I have no problems with the fact that it can be difficult to spell some words; I couldn't spell the word "eight" over and over until I reached my second year of comp. There were probably lots of other words I couldn't spell as well, but I remember that this one used to get me particularly frustated.
Anyway, the experts in this report seemed to think that the English language was just too complicated to learn and that there were far too many words that had unnecessary letters, such as "friend" and "orange" (I refuse to put their example of "shoulder" because taking out the "u" would make this phonetically different and then people won't be able to talk let alone spell!) Okay, this is getting complicated.
They suggested that completely rewriting the English language to make it easier to spell would help. They then went on to say that people who had already learned under the old system (i.e. proper spelling) could keep writing words the same way while this new generation went on to write words differently.
What!? What the heck!? That would be like having two different langauges! Can you imagine working with someone ten or twenty years younger than you who practically writes in a different language? This is nonsense! There has to be some way to make spelling easier rather than these rash measures. I don't think tey've thought this one through.
