Magic Wand Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 What's the concensus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkInTheBlue Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Absolutely, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindergretta Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My dh is educated and extremely smart, same with my dad. Neither are awesome spellers. My dd15 is a total academic and her spelling makes me twitch! :001_huh: Ds17 is not academic AT ALL. He spells beautifully. I think people have a knack for spelling, or don't. They can be taught to spell basically well, but if they don't have the knack for it, they will struggle. (IME ;) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magic Wand Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have one dd that struggles with spelling and one that spells naturally. I think you're right, either you have a knack for it or you don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My dh is scary smart and constantly asks me how to spell certain words. Younger dd is the same way. Yes, an educated adult can still struggle in areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have "bad" spelling for my level of education. I just can't "see" it right. However, I have learned a LOT by starting from scratch and learning phonics etc. My (((poor dad))). He did a thesis correlating IQ with spelling ability way back before WWII, and I know he was troubled by my bad spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 What's the concensus? I'm sorry but...:lol: Eyeruney. It's a terrible thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Oh, to answer your question, Magic, yes, it's totally possible to be an educated and intelligent adult and have problems with spelling. I've known several people who matched this description. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMCassandra Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Absolutely. I once had a brilliant, terrific engineer boss who couldn't spell his way out of a paper bag. I was the technical writer for his group of about 40 people. He put me in his outer office so he could holler and ask me how to spell stuff. It was hilarious. I can't tell you how many people thought I was his secretary. I used to tease him that he was paying big bucks to have a personal dictionary on hand. (No, seriously, he was great to work for and I had very interesting and challenging work there.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlaura Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Absolutely! My sister will be defending her doctoral dissertation on Friday, and has just been accepted to Harvard and Johns Hopkins to get a second masters before her post-doc at NIH. She is a truly horrible speller. Just awful. But extremely intelligent and highly educated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magic Wand Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 I pride myself on being a good speller... guess that's out the window - well, happy to hear that the "consensus" is you can still be educated, smart and not spell worth a darn. Hmmm... I'm sorry but...:lol: Eyeruney. It's a terrible thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magic Wand Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 what is the correlation between IQ and spelling ability...do tell! I have "bad" spelling for my level of education. I just can't "see" it right. However, I have learned a LOT by starting from scratch and learning phonics etc. My (((poor dad))). He did a thesis correlating IQ with spelling ability way back before WWII, and I know he was troubled by my bad spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I pride myself on being a good speller... guess that's out the window - well, happy to hear that the "consensus" is you can still be educated, smart and not spell worth a darn. Hmmm... Don't feel bad, it happens to all of us. ;) Normally, I barely register typos or misspellings. I just couldn't resist this time, given the topic. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My delayed 11-year-old is a better speller than my bright 15-year-old. The younger guy is much more visual and notices minute details better than his sister. He's also got a great rote memory; something no one in the house can claim. I think spelling is like languages . . . you're good or bad at it. If you're bad you can work to improve, but it'll always be easier for those who have a knack for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5Bmom Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My mom went to 11 schools BEFORE Highschool. She was never really taught phonics and was solely a sight reader. She went on to college and got her BA... She has had successful business for years. She absolutely cannot spell. She attributes it to her early years and at 66 it frustrates her. But she can't get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 You don't learn to spell just by having birthdays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Yes, many adults were not given the tools for good spelling while they were in school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) I have a PhD in a mathematical science and was almost a comparative literature major in college (so I do have a bent for language arts), and I spell at about a 6th-grade level. I did not read past Dick and Jane readers until mid-4th grade and was never taught phonics. I never learned or noticed things like "oa" makes the long o sound or "ow" makes a long o or ow sound. I just never noticed and was not taught. For me spelling was like memorizing phone numbers, I just rattled them off. Eventually there were too many "phone numbers" to memorize. I failed so many spelling tests that I eventually quit caring. And that was truly the end. Unless you are a natural speller, you must care about spelling to spell well. I am now learning with my 6th grade son.:001_huh: Ruth in NZ Edited March 21, 2012 by lewelma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrappyhappymama Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Absolutely. My husband has a Masters degree in science and works in a very technical medical field. He dictates complex medical terms all day with ease, but he'd be in big trouble is he was the one doing the transcriptions because he is an atrocious speller. He is also a very analytical thinker and an excellent public speaker. He blames his spelling issues on a sub-par secondary education. When he first started college, he had to first take all remedial courses, but there are no remedial spelling/phonics college classes. He gets along fairly well with spell check and a wife who proofreads all his professional or important documents. But he is adamant that our children not suffer the same disadvantage he has, to the best of our ability to teach them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alenee Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) My mom has worked with physicists for 30 years and is always correcting their spelling. Well-educated does not = great spelling. Edited March 21, 2012 by Alenee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) Absolutely. I once worked with a brilliant, very successful lawyer who was a terrible speller. It must be some kind of mental processing thing, because he also had a truly extraordinary memory for pretty much everything *except* spelling. As in, he could remember the 9-digit number for the single document he wanted out of of a roomful of paper. It was amazing. But he just could not spell, and so he always, always made sure that other people read over anything he wrote. I don't know how -- or if -- he was accommodated in school but he had a stellar academic background and his inability to spell certainly didn't seem to have slowed him down career-wise. (ETA: Just looked him up, as it's been a while. The spelling is clearly not hampering his career at ALL.) Edited March 21, 2012 by JennyD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammie Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Pretty highly educated here (BA, MA, JD) and an absolutely AWFUL speller!! I have to ask my 11 dd how to spell words sometimes just so I don't make a fool of myself. I simply have no feel for how a word should be spelled. I have no visual memory of how the word "looks." I read TONS and still a bad speller!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Yes. A friend of mine is a physics professor who writes novels in his spare time. He loves to write and writes very well, but his spelling is awful. So yes, you can be highly educated and even be very good with language - except for spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Absolutely. My best friend's DD (17 years old) has a type of dyslexia that affects her spelling ability. She's incredibly smart, but can't spell worth a flip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My ferociously intelligent and educated OB/Gyn used to ask me to help him with spelling his notes during consultations. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Sure. You can also be a highly educated and intelligent adult and not speak a foreign language. You can also be a highly educated and intelligent adult and be a total dounce at elementary mental math. You can also be a highly educated and intelligent adult and geographically challenged, barely able to read maps or have any sort of mental image of them in your mind. You can also be a highly educated and intelligent adult and... You get the point. The problem is, at some point these things quit being a cute quirk or two and make you look like somebody who may be extraordinarily good in their field, but lacks educational breadth and perspective. Being a professional of that kind and being an intellectual with a breadth of education and competences are two completely different things, and BOTH are highly educated and intelligent adults. But differently educated. Which is why I do not like these stories and giggling about how So-and-So is a genius at their field, but lacks common sense or knowledge and some practical competences outside of their field. Quite often it is NOT a cute quirk or two, but basic educational deficiencies masked as those quirks and excused by a high level of formal education in one's field. So, yes, while they are extraordinary, capable, intelligent, and educated adults who lack some elementary competences, and each of us can probably think of an anecdote or two, there are also many more cases in which one managed to attain very high professional competence, but actually is not well-educated in the more old fashioned sense of the word, which certainly includes an ability to spell, barring an occasional typo, of course. And those cases are NOT a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have a B.S. in Chem, an M.Ed. and a J.D. I have worked in a variety fields (patent law, special education, disability advocacy). I do not spell well. The key is knowing that. Using spell check and asking a proof reader. My dd has spelling issues. Hers are different than mine. She also tested into the local (highly competitive, nationally recognized) school system's gifted classes. She started school in 6th grade. She has placed into the highest math offered within the gifted program (Algebra in 7th, geometry in 8th) She is getting As in English. She is developing into a good writer, particularly of fiction. She knows she must proof read carefully every time. I think before the age of computers, intelligent people with spelling issues had a harder time. In the age before computers when secretary was a common job, one of the essential skills of a secretary was being able to spell. The secretary had to be able to catch the boss's errors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Some of the most brilliant people I know, cannot spell. There are so many ways to be intelligent, and spelling is only one of them. Most people who spell well read alot, and it has nothing to do with anything THEY did. I always aced spelling tests in school without studying, and my daughter does the same thing. It's kind of like someone who is naturally gregarious. I think you're just born with the ability to pick up spelling easily, or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My husband is one of those people who seems to know a lot of things about a lot of things. He's good with trivia type stuff, good with sciency type stuff, good with math. He's got a lot of hobbies, can fix almost anything, owns a small business. He's sickeningly good at almost everything he tries to do, has a lot of skills. On top of it all, he even cooks! :D But his spelling and grammar skills are weak. So if you knew him in person you'd think he was a smart guy. If you "met" him on a message board, you'd probably think he wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Yes, I believe the inability to spell is not an indication of intelligence. HOWEVER, I don't like that it sometimes becomes an excuse for not even attempting to do better. What I mean with "do better" is to use a spell checker or look words up (when possible). For example, the VP at my husband's company (probably no sluff if he is the VP), sent out a fancy typed up letter riddled with spelling errors. RUN THE DARN SPELL CHECKER THROUGH IT! LOL, exactly. If you KNOW you are challenged in some area, make accomodations as needed for it NOT to be noticeable by everybody else as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 There are so many ways to be intelligent, and spelling is only one of them. Most people who spell well read alot, and it has nothing to do with anything THEY did. I always aced spelling tests in school without studying, and my daughter does the same thing. It's kind of like someone who is naturally gregarious. I think you're just born with the ability to pick up spelling easily, or not. I disagree with this. People have different levels of natural affinity for different things. That I agree with. However, it does NOT mean that people with lesser natural affinity to many things cannot do A LOT to improve. You mention reading, for example - but if people who tend to spell very well also tend to read very well, on average, there is obviously some connection between something they do and something they are able to do. My middle daughter is not very languagey, more of a science / visual stuff / math type than a language type. You would NEVER know, she duly went through all the due language milestones and speaks several languages due to life circumstances and exposure - only with more effort than her sister. Hard =/= impossible. That is what a lot of people refuse to accept and just accept being "bad" at something... and that is, IMO, not okay if what we are talking about are elementary skills. Most people can work on their weaknesses and reach a decent level at which basic deficits are practically invisible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Absolutely. Spelling is controlled by a certain area of your brain that is not related to your overall general intelligence. That area of your brain can be damaged or interferred with and you can also lose your spelling ability under certain circumstances. I used to be a very good speller. Now I take a medicine that effects my temperal lobe and is notorious for messing up people's ability to spell. Honestly, it is listed as a common side effect of the medication. Sometimes words just don't look right and I end up having to look up words like was. It also causes me to think of one word and write a different word entirely, words that aren't even synonyms or homonyms or anything, words that are just entirely different with no relation to the word I am looking for at all. I have heard of this happening to people with brain injuries or strokes as well. It is incredibly frustrating. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Yes. For example, there are many gifted, highly educated dyslexic adults out there who have a horrible time with spelling (my son will be one of them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 100% yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susankenny Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Definately no corelation to levell of edukation! Susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker25 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I am not highly educated, but I do consider myself a well read and fairly intelligent person. I tend to spell words the way I hear them. In some cases that is a problem. The English language is tricky. I have also found out, since teaching my children, that my grammar is seriously lacking. That being said, it bugs me when people make an issue of someone's spelling or grammar skills on message boards. For professional writing spelling and grammar are important. For a message board not so much. It's not usually a big deal here, but I have been on some message boards when the grammar and spelling police like to strike quickly and often. It intimidates me so much that I tend to stay away. Of course since getting my Kindle spelling has become a lot easier. Except, when it autocorrects a word incorrectly and I don't catch it before hitting send. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Yes. My sister is a very smart person, working on her masters right now and yet she can't spell worth beans, never could no matter how many spelling lessons she did in school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) My DH is very well educated but his strengths are math and sciences. He has more of an engineering mind, I guess. He can't spell well at all. My son is dyslexic, and while he's advanced in many subjects for his age, he can't spell to save his life! I think it's important to remember that standardized spelling in the English language is relatively modern.... I don't see spelling skills as being all that important, quite honestly (I am a good, natural speller, btw).... Here's an interresting article on the history of spelling: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Histengl/spelling.html Edited March 21, 2012 by SailorMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ananda Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I spell terribly. I am bright, academic & quite well-educated. Both of my college educated parents & my brother can't spell either. Could it be genetic? I don't think intelligence, effort or education has made much impact for any of us. I use spell check carefully & immediately correct any red squiggly words. I have friends proof read papers for errors spell check may have missed. But there has always been the in class essay test to blow my cover. I don't think it is cute, necessarily. But I don't think it should be a big deal. Circling fifty misspellings of rabbit in 10th grade an announcing to the class that Ananda wrote "rabit" will shame me into learning one word. Now I can confidently spell rabbit, big deal there are millions of other words to misspell. I understand that it is truly difficult for the even moderately good spellers to understand how I truly can't do it. Mocking isn't constructive. I guess Ester Maria's words hit a sour chord with me because she is not a native English speaker. I immediately flashed back to a conversation with an Austrian English professor in college. I had of course tortured the English language in the in class essay. He called me out on it in front of then entire class, "This would have been a good essay, had you bothered to spell correctly." I asked him what did he mean, "bother." His answer made it clear to me that he honestly thought it was laziness. Laziness! How dare he, does he know how much time I took out to scribble possible spellings on little slips of paper to see which looked best. I was constantly passing up good words for much lesser choices simply because there was greater chance I would spell the lesser word correctly, but realize I can't spell rabbit. It is an exercise in futility. I think bad spelling can be an isolated ill. It doesn't reflect on my character, I would work hard to learn to spell if I had even a modicum of aptitude. It doesn't reflect on my intelligence except in that one area. I am actualized about my spelling. I hate that people might mistake me for uneducated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ananda Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Some people truly can not spell. It isn't a matter of hard work. It isn't a matter of reading more. Hard may not mean impossible, but can't also doesn't mean won't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I think people have a knack for spelling, or don't. They can be taught to spell basically well, but if they don't have the knack for it, they will struggle. (IME ;) ) :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Some people truly can not spell. It isn't a matter of hard work. It isn't a matter of reading more. Hard may not mean impossible, but can't also doesn't mean won't. No matter how much my dyslexic son reads, it won't really help his spelling. Sure, it will help a bit - but his brain is just not wired that way. Let's compare this to calculus, please. Do all of the people here who believe everyone can spell if they work hard enough believe that everyone can get good at calculus if they just worked harder at math? What about differential equations? What about science??? I hear all the time on these boards that "my son/daughter is not mathy/sciency"... I think here, the majority are more liberal arts types than math/science types, and hence this "anyone can spell with hard work attitude". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I guess Ester Maria's words hit a sour chord with me because she is not a native English speaker. I immediately flashed back to a conversation with an Austrian English professor in college. I had of course tortured the English language in the in class essay. He called me out on it in front of then entire class, "This would have been a good essay, had you bothered to spell correctly." I asked him what did he mean, "bother." His answer made it clear to me that he honestly thought it was laziness. Laziness! How dare he, does he know how much time I took out to scribble possible spellings on little slips of paper to see which looked best. I was constantly passing up good words for much lesser choices simply because there was greater chance I would spell the lesser word correctly, but realize I can't spell rabbit. It is an exercise in futility. What about me not being a native speaker? :tongue_smilie: If anything, for not being a native speaker I should be MORE aware of some of the linguistic intricacies and the inconsistencies of English in terms of pronunciation and writing, rather than LESS, and thus appreciate MORE rather than LESS when somebody has a good written English because it was a less "natural" process for me to learn it. And yet, I still believe you (general you, meaning English speakers) often blow the difficulty of your spelling out of proportions. Sometimes I have a feeling you treat it as a sort of a mystical skill than some individuals were born with and some were not, like a perfect pitch. I see it more like varying levels of natural affinity, but the vast majority of which can attain good results, exactly like in music - not everyone will have a perfect pitch, but few people cannot be musically educated because they lack affinity to that level (and yes, I have met such individuals - for one of them Latin metrics at school was a torture because she just could not get into it, no matter how much she practiced, and she could also not sing either, at all, a total inability to distinguish between different length and height of notes, etc.). Now, spelling is not music, because unlike music, everybody needs it - and yet I see so many people treating it exactly like that, as though there was this magical GREAT number of people who just "lack a feeling for it". I think individuals like that (and you may be one of them) are few and far between, definitely not all who claim to be or who mask their lack of effort and literacy by saying it is "just not their forte". THAT is what irks me, not the cases of individuals who genuinely cannot process it, like that classmate could just not get music, no. matter. what. (Funny you should mention an Austrian, though. I lived there as a toddler, LOL.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Absolutely. My FIL is one of the smartest people I know. He is very well read, and can converse intelligently on just about any topic. He is a whiz in physics and mechanical engineering. He cannot, however, spell his way out of a paper bag. It is just one function that his brain does not perform well. It isn't from lack of education or lack of effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bornthisway Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Well its hard for me too to spell correctly. I really try hard not to make spelling mistakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicAnn Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My dh is scary smart and constantly asks me how to spell certain words. Younger dd is the same way. Yes, an educated adult can still struggle in areas. Ditto. Dh can build computers from scratch, program anything, answer complex math problem in his head and has a freakish knowledge of history. But he asked me how to spell "couch" the other day. I, on the other hand, am of average intelligence but can spell just about any word there is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Which is why I do not like these stories and giggling about how So-and-So is a genius at their field, but lacks common sense or knowledge and some practical competences outside of their field. Quite often it is NOT a cute quirk or two, but basic educational deficiencies masked as those quirks and excused by a high level of formal education in one's field. So, yes, while they are extraordinary, capable, intelligent, and educated adults who lack some elementary competences, and each of us can probably think of an anecdote or two, there are also many more cases in which one managed to attain very high professional competence, but actually is not well-educated in the more old fashioned sense of the word, which certainly includes an ability to spell, barring an occasional typo, of course. And those cases are NOT a good thing. Wow. So an adult who is successful, but can't spell, just happened to "manage" to become successful despite not being properly and well educated? That has got to be one of the biggest stereotypes I have ever heard. I suggest you read the book The Dyslexic Advantage. It might open your mind to some other possibilities as to why an otherwise successful person can't spell. I work my rear off educating my son. I have put in so much work and research into teaching him how to read, spell, and write. The simple fact is that my 8 yr old can spell better than my 11 yr old and it will always be that way. The fact that my 11 yr old has major spelling issues does not mean that he is not being "well-educated in the more old-fashioned sense of the word, which certainly includes an ability to spell." :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Education Explorers Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I can't spell to save my life. Thank heavens for spell check! While I know it is the height of arrogance to say, I am quite intelligent and well educated (IQ tests as a child, BA and a JD), but I truly cannot spell. I have never forgotten what my 5th grade teacher told me when handing back a spelling test. "It's a good thing you are smart, you will always have a secretary who can spell for you." I could learn the words for a test on Friday and come Monday... had no idea how to spell them. (Clearly that dates me as well before the dawn of personal computers... getting old is no fun!) Yes, spell check had to tell me how to spell "arrogance." Too bad my daughter seems to have picked up my natural tendency towards "spelling oblivion." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Sure. You can also be a highly educated and intelligent adult and not speak a foreign language. You can also be a highly educated and intelligent adult and be a total dounce at elementary mental math. You can also be a highly educated and intelligent adult and geographically challenged, barely able to read maps or have any sort of mental image of them in your mind. You can also be a highly educated and intelligent adult and... You get the point. The problem is, at some point these things quit being a cute quirk or two and make you look like somebody who may be extraordinarily good in their field, but lacks educational breadth and perspective. Being a professional of that kind and being an intellectual with a breadth of education and competences are two completely different things, and BOTH are highly educated and intelligent adults. But differently educated. Which is why I do not like these stories and giggling about how So-and-So is a genius at their field, but lacks common sense or knowledge and some practical competences outside of their field. Quite often it is NOT a cute quirk or two, but basic educational deficiencies masked as those quirks and excused by a high level of formal education in one's field. So, yes, while they are extraordinary, capable, intelligent, and educated adults who lack some elementary competences, and each of us can probably think of an anecdote or two, there are also many more cases in which one managed to attain very high professional competence, but actually is not well-educated in the more old fashioned sense of the word, which certainly includes an ability to spell, barring an occasional typo, of course. And those cases are NOT a good thing. I had an excellent education. I studied Spanish for 7 years and French for 3. I can count. I can say a few phrases, and I can read and understand a portion of it. I cannot speak and will never be fluent. I aces every spelling test in school, but I have to work really hard at spelling. Math is easy. Science is easy. Music, dance, and history are great. I had a broad, nearly classical education, I cannot spell or speak a foreign language. Some people just have a hard time with it. It does not mean they have educational deficiencies, just that their brains work differently. Some of the most brilliant people I know, cannot spell. There are so many ways to be intelligent, and spelling is only one of them. Most people who spell well read alot, and it has nothing to do with anything THEY did. I always aced spelling tests in school without studying, and my daughter does the same thing. It's kind of like someone who is naturally gregarious. I think you're just born with the ability to pick up spelling easily, or not. I am well read. I read Plato and Aristotle for fun. I don't read constantly, but I read daily. I cannot spell. One of my closest friends reads constantly, she cannot spell. We went to different schools, different years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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