Today, in the class I'm teaching, I assigned my students an essay to complete for homework. One student asked me if I was deducting points for bad spelling. I teach English. FML
Collection
Fall
Dead leaves, the first cold of the season and an umbrella flipped inside out: fall, the season of grace.
Today, I got back the essay I wrote about how my country's education system is fucked. At one point, I made a spelling mistake. My teacher wrote a note about it, basically calling me illiterate, and telling me to pay attention in school instead of whining about it. She misspelled "school". FML
Today, I was teaching a class when a student pointed out that I'd used the wrong "your/you're" while writing on the board. FML
Today, I turned in an overdue English assignment at college. My instructor accused me of plagiarism, writing that my sentence structure was "TO" good. Seriously? FML
Today, I received a terrible grade for an essay I worked really hard on. I had two friends, one being an English major, check it over. However, apparently I "clearly didn't use spellcheck" on this essay just like the last one I submitted to her. FML
Today, while grading my kindergarteners' spelling tests, one kid spelled all the words wrong, including his name. FML
Today, I had to re-grade a student's assignments because neither he, nor his parents can read "Spanish." I'd written in cursive. FML
Today, I'm grading final projects for a junior level college class. A student finally turned in their work, after months of encouragement and coaxing. Half of it was plain wrong, the rest had so many spelling and grammatical mistakes, it appeared to be written by a drunk autocorrect program. FML
Today, I lectured my second-grade class to be more descriptive in their writing. I gave them an assignment to describe something in the classroom. I was grading their work later, and one student wrote, "My class is taught by a fat teacher with gray hair." FML
Today, the feedback my teacher wrote on my English assignment was so horrible that it took me half an hour and help from both my parents to decipher it. It turned out to be a scathing criticism of my "poor communication skills". I hate my teachers. FML
Today, I turned in an essay after staying up late to work on it. I was away when the teacher assigned it, so I'd asked my friend what the subject was. It transpires that she'd given me the wrong one, all because she was mad at me for not returning her pencil. FML
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Top comments
RabbitOfAurora 28
I think that's a fair question depending on the class and what kind of teacher you are. Because if the point if the essay was say, structure. You might take the pressure off of them by forgiving a few spelling errors. I know I had teachers in high school that delayed whole exams by a week because the class as a collective didn't feel prepared and wanted more time to study.
socialproduct 19
If it's a typed essay, there's really no excuse for spelling errors.
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Comments (89)
RabbitOfAurora 28
I think that's a fair question depending on the class and what kind of teacher you are. Because if the point if the essay was say, structure. You might take the pressure off of them by forgiving a few spelling errors. I know I had teachers in high school that delayed whole exams by a week because the class as a collective didn't feel prepared and wanted more time to study.
chrisbeaudoin 26
Idk about you but whenever the teacher asked out class if we want more time to study we all said yes because we never studied in the first place.
RabbitOfAurora 28
that sounds completely accurate!
izzajaneful 24
While is agree that it shouldn't be something like, "Minus two points for every spelling mistake," I do think it's a ridiculous question (once you're out of middle school). If there isn't a clear point deduction system, is that student not going to proofread at all?
SpyroMello 29
They teach English. They're an English teacher. In the US that includes grammar and spelling and spelling will of course be checked. It should be and its usually typed so there will be spellcheck.
DocBastard 40
"She teaches English. She's an English teacher. In the US that includes grammar and spelling, and spelling will of course be checked. It should be, and it's usually typed, so there will be spell check." -4 points for incorrect subject/verb agreement -2 points for incorrect comma use -2 points for using possessive "its" rather than contraction "it's" Note to FML staff: For all grammar-related FMLs, a red pen font would be appreciated.
Kougeru 12
I greatly disagree. Bad spelling and grammar negates any argument or message someone is trying to portray through an essay. No one will take it seriously. Sure, it's just school....but people make habits out of this. The common excuse for bad internet spelling and grammar is "it's just the internet" but then if you look at modern resumes their garbage spelling and grammar clearly carries over.
vdh5ever 4
Actually, they used the correct "it's". It's = it is Its= possessive it It may seem backwards, but they were actually correct.
PrincessShiraz 11
Worst FML ever. It's entirely possible that what you are looking for are thoughts and analysis and you will not be taking off points for mechanics.
katachristic 19
mechanics are taught in elementary and middle school and taken as automaticfrom then on. they don't really do serious analysis until high school, and that's only if you're in advanced placement.
trollcrusher 17
Exactly; basic spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all taught from the beginning of a child's education. Once you move on to incorporating more complex writing methods, that is no reason to slack off on the fundamentals. You can write the most insightful rhetorical analysis in your class, but if you're making obvious mistakes on the basics... it's like building a mansion with beautiful architecture out of soggy cardboard. You can compose a piece of writing as nicely as you like, but it's still only as good as your foundational writing skills.
evilplatypus 39
So many people here are arguing that spelling and grammar should be automatic by the time they get to high school, yet their own comments are littered with poor grammar, spelling, syntax...
SeveralLake 18
27, who are you trying to impress with your unnecessary choice of words?
trollcrusher 17
@64 I'm not sure which words you're referring to. Could you point them out for me? Surely you don't mean that many of my words were "unnecessary". Just about any one of my friends, family, or acquaintances would find my choice in words completely unremarkable. To impress someone with the words in my previous comment... well, I'd either have to look at the far end of the bell curve, or at children who aren't far along in their education.
socialproduct 19
If it's a typed essay, there's really no excuse for spelling errors.
Calingaladha 21
Sometimes a word can be misspelled for the context but still be a word, and spellcheck won't catch that.
Kailayla 29
Google "Eye halve a spelling chequer", it illustrates why not to just trust your spellcheck.
AverageAvarice 23
#20 Haha, technically there are no spelling errors. My main issue with writing papers is the shitty grammar check suggestions. I find you can become a bit context blind to your own mistakes the more you write. I always read my papers backwards, it helps you catch your mistakes with fresh perspective. Plus, spell check just makes your spelling worse in my opinion, too much of a crutch sometimes.
chrisbeaudoin 26
To #20, some websites/spellcheckers underline bad grammar in blue and mistakes in red. Obviously not all mistakes but what you typed could be underlined blue as it does not make sense grammatically.
Warmonger_Smurf 29
I hope to God the people who are saying it's a valid question are under the age of twelve. They should get marked down! I remember being in school, and no matter what class I had points were deducted for misspelling.
katachristic 19
eh. I could understand if it were a science paper and the person asking was not a native speaker. (even so, spell check)
a_sales 12
My English teacher doesn't really take marks off for spelling but it depends on what the essay is. If it is more about the ideas and how we understood something, she isn't looking for perfect spelling. It is the same for our exams at the end of the year. Because they know we are rushing and they only want to know if we understand it they don't care as long as you use paragraphs and it is clear enough to read.
AverageAvarice 23
#28 Your comment just makes me wonder what grade you're in. I remember focusing on paragraphs, types of essays (persuasive, expository etc.), and spelling in 4th and 5th grade as we had to hand write essays for assessment testing, though testing varies by state. Then doing some acrostic poems and hiakus. Middle school should focus on properly understanding and developing topics, book reports, poetry and creative writing; all added onto structure and grammar mixed with some Shakespearean iambic pentameter. You would read political books like Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, and Fahrenheit 451 . Then highschool should be about proper formatting of MLA style research essays and analysis papers; as well as properly citing and referencing to avoid plagiarism. With some thought provoking works like Canterbury Tales and dystopian themed Harrison Bergeron type stuff. Let me stop reliving grade school though, I need to sleep.
wow2mylife 25
I just graduated high school and it's a valid question mostly in Florida
luvlu444 24
To be fair, essays tend to focus on different techniques like text response, persuasion or analysis, so spelling isn't usually a key factor. Unless you gave them some sort of criteria sheet, it's a completely valid question
moodyreallyrocks 27
I think its a valid question, to just inquire. OP should offer help to the student, if they're having difficulty..
nkolhatkar99 3
why did this comment get so many dislikes? people on this app are jerks
CyberPsycho 21
Well, do you deduct points for bad spelling?
Axel5238 29
Never had a teacher that didn't take of points for spelling it's basic for an essay, as well as sentence structure and grammar. It's considered pretty basic, regardless of the topic of the essay that you have to spell correctly.
Dale_shackleford 13
I've had teachers that don't care as long as it's not distractingly bad.
stormy0307 16
I would deduct points for bad spelling. Life and employers won't cut them slack for incorrect spelling. So they better learn now while still in school. When I was in engineering school my professors were grammar nazis on top of being anal about the engineering side of things.
AverageAvarice 23
Yes, professors are brutal af. Better to get red marks in grade school than in University.
jvanevery 19
being perfect is part and parcel of being an engineer if you're not bent that way then don't be an engineer not saying you have to be perfect just saying that should be your goal bridges falling down and shit when my son graduated from engineering school they gave him this steel ring supposedly made from the debris from some bridge that collapsed supposed to be a kind of reminder if you don't do it right people die
bob_tho_goldfish 16
I agree with the student. I can spell usually fine but every know and them i mess up and my teachers would not count off points for it.
farmgirl98 14
Nice try
magnacarter 7
irony at its finest!
cootiequeen4444 11
#16 idk I think they did well for a goldfish..
Lalala579121 28
Okay cool. So you can spell the word "usually" fine. It seems like the rest of your words still need a bit of work.
SniperofTurtle 12
I still ask my teachers that
Ahyuenhsia 21
same