Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1885-10-29
How Spelling Damages the Mind.

though each letter represents some sound
ottener than any other, there is hardly a
letter in the alphabet that does not repre-
sent more than one sound, and hardly a
sound in the language that is not repre-
sented in several WAYS, while MANY words
are written with as many silent letters as
significant ones There is nothing in any
word TO indicate in which Of these ways its
component sounds are represented, nothing
IN the written group Of letters to show
which sounds they stand for. and which of
them, if any, are silent, that learner
can never be sure of pronouncing rightly
an English word that he has not heard
spoken, nor of spelling correctly one that
| he has never seen written. The spelling
OF each word must be learned by sheer
force Of memory. In this work the pupils
! reasoning powers cannot be utilized, but
must be subdued while his memory is sadly
overworked. la the affairs of the child's
dali, life, the logical following out of rules
/ is rewarded; in learning to spell, it brings
him only discontinue and bewilderment.
lie ls taught that BIO me stands for BON (net
bo-ne) and tome for ton, bIt that dome
stands for dan, that gone spells gon,
m0-c-e spells moor, and b-r-o-a ze, 6r0Rz.
Now when he comes in reading TO another
/ similar word, none, he has means OF
telling whether to call it non, nun non.
noon, or nom he can only look up at his
teacher and wait to be told The influence
Of the spelling class quickly drives him to
repress any inclination to reason. and he
gives himself up to a blind following of
authority. No child learns English spelling
without getting the pernlcIouS notion that
cram is better than thinking, and that com
mon sense is a treacherous guide. The
child who can take what he is told without
asking why, who can repeat rule without
troubling himself about its meaning, gets
along best. On the other hand, the child
Tho has difficulty in learning to spell may
be- expected TO develop strong logical fac
ulfies. lie il constantly trying TO spell
according TO some principle. and, Of course,
constantly coming TO grief Thus a boy
who had long been at the foot Of hi, spell
lng-class was one dsv given the word ghost.
and, making desperate attempt at the sort
of spelling he had otlenest heard succeed.
he spelled il q o-g-h j-st. This bringing
+ upon him shouts Of laughter, he sad. with
c.lnched tiSt and fearful ewes "Nou
( needn't laugh; YOU all spell homelier'n
( that - 50 much attention j. given 70 spell
ing thai children obtain false IDEAS Of 1t,
importance. The speiliag. or representa-
tIon. becomes TO them the word, while the
real rori u called the pronunciation, and
/ is thought Of as an appendage. They learn
/ to desplse the poor speler, a prejudice
which is never outgrown. and above all
they became so absorbed in the manipua-
ton Of words that they have little chance to
grasp the ideas which the words stand for.
T II our notation Of numbers were as irreg-
ular as our notation Of speech, 80 that the
numbers from forty 10 forty y-hve, ior m
stance, should be written, say as follows
/ ~, III, i-", IS, 4l4, 70 and II no one
could tell al sight whether number like
I ',2i3,sl2 contained several lgures which
4 were silent, or had exceptional values,
who can doubt that the study Of arithmetic,
+ instead OF beng a valuable discipline,
would be mere mentally emery at!ng drudg-
cry II il were proposed that children
should earn a style Of writing music which
gave different values to the same characters,
similarly placed, in different pieces, and
added a host Of silent notes, the evil, Of
iesrning such a system would be plainly
seen Yet many people, who have forgot
ten their own sufierings in the spelling class,
cannot see that children are SO very much
MAINTAIN that the struggle involved Is good
for them
Il know, says Max Muller, there are
persons who can defend ANYTHING, and who
hold that Il j. due TO this very discipline
tina, the English character ls what II l.;
that It retains respect for authority; that It
does not require a reason for everything
and that il does not admit that What is IN
conceivable j. therefore impossible. Even
English orthodoxy has been traced back TO
that hidden source, because child accuS-
toned to believe that t-h-o-ny-h Is houyh,
and that t-h-r-o.W9h is Arouyh, would
.fterward believe anything. 1t may be so :;
still doubt whether even such object,
would justify such means. Lord LUTON
says: a more lying, roundabout, puzzle
beaded delusion than that BY which We con-
fuse the clear instincts Of truth In our ac-
cursed system of spelling was never con
coc'ed b, the father Of falsenood. .
How can system Of educaton flourish
that begins by 50 monsrous a falsehood,
which the sense of hearing suttices to con-
tradct p"
Here is chief source Of the ncapacity
for thinking which academy and college
students bring into the science laboratories.
This irrational process, taken up when the