Why Correct Spelling is Important

At our Oracle, we get questions phrased something like:

Hi my name is melissa i just need to now a couple of things! 1 are platypuss vertebrate or invertebrates? 2 dose the platypus migrate? if it dose where? if not what size area dose it usually inhabit? just 1 more 3what is it's social behaviour thanxs if poseably plez send back by tommorrow

Often our scientists will just try to puzzle through the question. However, this slows down the process of communication, and is often not the quickest nor most reliable way to get information. One of our scientists decided to talk a little about why spelling is important:

Oooh.

I'll answer your questions, but let's have a little chat about spelling first. I know you're only a 7th grader, and not everybody spells well, but let me explain why it's important and why you need to spend some time on it.

In this modern age of computers and the Internet, you can find the answer to almost anything you want to know. The problem is finding the information, and that's where these modern marvels called search engines come in. They constantly scour the Net for web pages, and they sort and index them by keywords so that you can find information on a particular subject. Try out a search engine like http://www.dogpile.com/ or http://www.google.com/ and you'll see that there's a lot of information available free for the asking.

The problem is that computers are very literal; they only find what you ask for. If you search for platapus, you're not going to find much. The word is spelled platypus. If you try those same search engines with a phrase like platypus migration, or platypus habitat, or platypus range, you're probably going to find answers to your questions.

Another reason that spelling matters, and you need to work on it NOW, is that it counts for your whole life. Fair or not, people will judge you on how you spell, and in an era when email and written communication (like this) are the norm, the impression that you give with your written words will be the only basis on which people will judge you. It's not necessarily fair, but it's reality. And why do you care NOW??? Right now, your brain is still pretty 'flexible'....it's easy right now for you to adopt new habits, learn languages and pick up new skills. It gets a lot harder in about five years. As you mature, your ability to adapt quickly gets worse, and the patterns that you've developed right now tend to become ingrained.

If you spend the time right now to work on your spelling, reading and writing skills, it'll be a lot easier than later on. Those skills will also make all the rest of your schoolwork much easier, and a lot more fun too. But you need to put the time in now. It's hard to believe, but even at 7th grade level, you're already passing the best years for learning language skills. I know and work with people who are quite skilled, but they didn't make the effort to become good writers and spellers when they had the chance (like you do, now) and having to write proposals and specifications is a huge effort for them. I know... I edit their stuff before it goes out the door to our customers. So please spend some time on spelling, grammar and writing skills, because it really will make a big difference for the entire rest of your life. Honest!