Btw. It's a bit rich to say that if we change our spelling we'll be just like the Fins. If we want to be like the Fins maybe we should reinstate an academic curriculum, competition, school autonomy and the plethora of things that the Fins do to achieve success. Instead, we waste more money every year on fads. Then when our results continue to get worse, people like you blame English spelling!

Wouldn't it just be a lot easier to dump the teaching fads of the past 30 years and reinstate rigor in education rather than saying we should wipe a thosand years of historical influences from our language?

Only an educationalist could think up something like this. You must be a consultant, bureaucrat, or even worse, ....an academic.

Brian,

The Gonski plan does not refer to “a different way of funding education from the previous method based on the socio-economic status of the parents of the enrolled child”.

The method previous to the Gonski plan is not “based on the socio-economic status of the parents of the enrolled child” but on the socio-economic status of the neighbours of the enrolled child, determkend via census collector districts.

The Gonski plan is also based on the socio-economic status of the neighbours of the enrolled child, which it has renamed “capacity to contribute”, that renaming being in itself sufficient to fool every commentator in the country for the first 13 months following the report’s release and all but two for the subsequent nine months.

The Gonski plan did not get rid of the SES funding model, but the average government school recurrent costs formula. The Gonski plan specifically endorsed he SES funding model via recommendations 2, 3 and 21.

Dane: I wont argue with u about being like the Finns, including their teacher status and practices. Enviable!

I will take issue with your "dumping the teaching fads of the past 30 years and reinstating rigor in education." U sound as tho u believe that there was once a golden age when our spelling and literacy rates wer (sic) excellent, to be admired. No such age existed in English-speaking countries.

In 1931 an English examiner's Junior County Scholarship Examination report complained there was evidence that the candidates "were quite unable to write a few words without gross errors of spelling, grammar and composition."

In 1950 inspectors complained that in a Birmingham secondary school illiteracy persisted "into the fourth year".

In 2008 a Massey (NZ) University study of historical documents showed the idea that in the past all children knew about grammar was not supported. ‘‘There was a huge lack of knowledge of spelling rules."

In 2008 the Observer, London, reported: "The golden age of exams is a myth as even 50 years ago the standard of English in O-levels was deemed 'very unsatisfactory', an educational assessment body has claimed."

I hav no reason to believe Australian inspections of the time would not hav found similar failings.

If we want optimum results, we must first check that our teaching tool is not faulty. English spelling is.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/16sp.htm

The Sixteen-Word Spelling Test
for anyone who thinks they are a good speller
Some or all of these words may be incorrectly spelled. Write them out correctly.

acomodate . . . . exessiv . . . .miniture . . . . siv . . .
gage . . . . .unparaleld . . . disapoint . . . . . gardian . . . . mischivus . . . . psycology . . . . . . . sovren . . . . . .disiplin . . . . . iliterat . . . . . . . . ocasion . . . . . recomend . . . . . tecnicly . . . .

The reason why hardly anyone can spell even these 16 words 'correctly' is because there is no need for them to be there, so it is difficult to remember what they are and where to put them.

How did you rate? Hundreds have tried this test, at conferences, exhibitions, schools and games-nights.

Average scores

16 Primary Teachers at a voluntary in-service course on teaching spelling - 2 had perfect scores.
Average score- 14.8

45 Experts at an International conference on Intelligence, 4 perfect scores.
Average score- 13.8

50 Reading Experts at an International Conference, 12 had perfect scores.
Average score- 13.6

30 Cognitive psychologists at an International.Conf.erence on Reading, 5 perfect scores.
'Psychology' was the only word they all got right. Average score- 13.6

7 Lawyers concerned with delinquents' illiteracy. No perfect scores . Average score- 12.8

30 Post-graduate teacher trainees. One perfect score. Average score- 12.0

75 Undergraduates. 8 perfect scores. Average score- 12.0

100 Secondary school students, mean age 15, No perfect scores. Average score- 6.9

25 Students of English as a foreign language undertaking tertiary courses in an Australian University.
No perfect scores. Average score- 4.3

30 Aboriginal students preparing for University - only 2 dared take the test. They got 2 correct each.

There is a simple spelling experiment of Parallel Texting that gives a chance to the unfortunate people who have not been able to read, or very badly, or toiled as children harder than we super-literates had to. Think of what they miss out. Think of the cost to society a chance. That is, a parallel text shorn of the spelling difficulties is set next to the present text.

I try to persuade teachers to give it a trial. It harms no one. But everyone is afraid to start, altho my example has stood the test of time and experiment since the 1970s.

One side of each page in a reading book is normal spelling; the other side is ‘spelling without traps’ which helps beginners to read present spelling. Or even one double page set out in this way, as a trial.
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/paraleltexts.htm
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/litreadingcribs.html

Try this, or think what u would do.
http://www.ozreadandspell.com.au/

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/spelling.htm

What would ‘spelling without traps’ look like?

1. 36 very common irregularly-spelled words are kept, to learn to recognize because they make up 12% of everyday text - ALL ALMOST ALWAYS AMONG COME SOME COULD SHOULD WOULD HALF KNOW OF OFF ONE ONLY ONCE OTHER PULL PUSH PUT TWO THEIR THEY AS WAS WHAT WANT WHO WHY VERY, and international word endings -ION/-TION/-SION/ZION. Almost everyone can learn up to 40 ‘sight-words’ – it is having to learn a dictionary full of words that is too hard for many children.

2.After that, only 6% of surplus letters in words in everyday text need be cut, and 3% of misleading letters changed. That is not much, but like having the right screws in building something, makes all the difference. Many of the disadvantaged can then read normal texts when Parallel Text is given next to it.
Those who do not need that help, can just read the normal text.

Dane: In response to mashabell u criticize teachers for telling "children that English spelling is silly or illogical". But it is, and they ar (sic) only being honest. And this being "because of historical influences" doesnt make it less silly and illogical. Its the fact we didnt always adapt the spelling of foreign words to English norms when "borrowing" them that has been a major cause of the problem.

I agree that ESL learners say English, in spite of irregular verbs (eg, run/ran) and plural nouns (child/children), is easier to learn than other European languages, but its spelling is not.

The "rich historical tapestry that is modern English" does not apply to its spelling. Its the spelling that needs upgrading and modernizing, not the language.