This really really annoys me

[questionzzz]

Ok, so maybe the writer of this email has a learning disability, but honestly this annoys me so much. In a school circular email?! It's hard enough to get kids to pay attention to grammar and spelling, and then you see stuff like this from the school, and I just want to throw my hands up and ask why do we even bother.

Just ranting here- I have no intention of following up with school and being "that" parent, although the thought did cross my mind.

As a private tutor, I‘ve seen this a lot unfortunately!

Goodness, I hope you don't tutor in English.

OP, I think you're being OTT. It's a slip. I don't follow why that means your child would stop bothering with spelling and grammar. I sometimes see people crossing the road when (shudder gasp) the green man hasn't lit up. I still teach my toddler DD to wait, even when the road is clear. You know why? Because she is a child, and she needs to learn the rules. I do not expect other adults to stand waiting patiently with me. I do my own parenting. If you really mind this much, point out to your child where the errors are, and correct them.

DS's primary school sent me a text about their stationary sale today.

In my local Morrison's supermarket there is a lovely mosaic mural advertising the local State Nusary.

@SarahAndQuack, well yes, I am a parent who bangs on about the importance of grammar and spelling, but in your scenario, how annoyed would you be, when after going on and on to your child about the importance of waiting for the green man to cross, you saw two police officers blatantly disregarding the rule and strolling across when there's a red light? It's not a perfect analogy, but you get my point.

When I was a Head of Department I asked the office to redo report forms which had a section for Teachers' Comment, as there would only be one teacher writing the report. I was told by the head honcho in the office that I was being 'unreasonable', no other Head of Department had commented, including the English department.

No, I don't get your point.

I would just tell DD they were crossing but we had to wait for the green man.

Wouldn't you?

I don't understand why it's too difficult for you, as a parent.

I'm with you, OP. Schools should be more attentive and careful. I definitely was 'that parent' who used to correct mistakes on worksheets/homework and consequently my kids would be 'those kids' who called out the teachers when they made mistakes on the board. They all probably hated me but frankly, I don't care!

My dd grammar school uniform policy states ‘discrete’ jewellery can be worn

That could be correct, depends on what their policy actually is.

you saw two police officers blatantly disregarding the rule and strolling across when there's a red light?

Great teaching moment for them to understand that just because someone else breaks the rules, doesn’t mean you have to. And that adults often do things children shouldn’t, because they know more than kids do.

Just as the original example is a good point to teach your children about the importance of checking their work when they are finished.

@SarahAndQuack So you don't believe in role models, the power and influence of people in authority, the importance of school education, media, all of that? It's all just you and your kid? Your kid absolutely believes and obeys whatever you tell them, never says "but so-and-so did otherwise"?

In the police crossing scenario (which again isn't perfect, because safe road crossing is a matter of life or death, unlike correct spelling), what if your kid turned back to you and said "but mama/mother/mom, look, those nice police officers who are actually charged with upholding law and order in our society are flagrantly breaking the law! So why do I have to obey the law?"

You would respond with "because you could die, darling"- but you do appreciate how the rule-breaking police officers made your work as a parent just a little bit harder, don't you?

@marshmallowss - we had this! I was horrified, was a report from a therapist, lots of facts wrong and then switched to another child’s name half way through! I was extremely annoyed

@MintyMabel LOL I would like to see a "continuous" piece of jewelry :)

Or it could be a great learning moment for the kids that adults are just a bunch of hypocrites who enforce rules on those smaller than them with no intention of following through themselves.

LOL I would like to see a "continuous" piece of jewelry :)

That's not what it means

Captainnelson I’m that parent too. I’ve sent back ds2’s English homework back with corrections to the marking after the teacher marked him wrong when it was correct in the first place. I was not impressed.

Discrete Discreet. The English language will continue (👀) to baffle me

I don’t actually understand how you can misspell ‘their’. It must take such an effort with autocorrect kicking in!

I had a good laugh at the discrete jewellery. Just the one earring then. Best make it a good ‘un.

Swisskit How fortunate that I am not charged with teaching or working in an institution responsible for teaching reading and writing then

Yes... but your error must have really, REALLY annoyed you?

@marshmallowss
Thank you so very much for that screenshot, I knew that there was a difference between discrete and discreet but didn't understand what the actual difference was. I now know.

@questionzzz, no, I believe in role models. I disagree that role models are relevant here. To me, a role model is a moral example or an inspiration - it's not about details or rote learning.

I would hope my child understands that police officers are busy people with a job to do. I am not so monumentally stupid or arrogant as to imagine they should stand waiting, when there is a clear street, for the green man to show, just so I can get away with lazy parenting. I understand they have better things to do.

In the same way, I would hope that I could teach my child to pay attention to spellings while accepting that, sometimes, people are busy or hurried - or doing something more important - and so they don't manage to observe the proprieties.

Correct spelling is a means to an end, just as the green man at a crossing is. Both of them help you (to be understood, or to get to the other side of the road). Neither of them is vital (people have written words and crossed roads long before standardised spelling and marked crossings).

IMO a child needs to understand that correct spelling is desirable, but they shouldn't imagine it's the be-all and end-all.

It really pisses me off actually OP - but I daren't raise the issue as I’ll be accused of some sort of snobbery.
What annoys me most is bloody apostrophes everywhere! Ggrrrr!
I have an eye for detail, with everything, not just the written word - my son also has this - but I have to bite my tongue often.

Oh! the apostrophes! I don't see what is so difficult about them, and yet my DP (who is an intelligent chap) cannot understand them, and has to ask me to check his emails etc.
I'd rather ban them altogether!

I've seen worse in 'bullitens', letters and bitchy emails from an old Head Teacher.

Somebody got together with a dyslexic colleague, printed out one of the even more rambling than usual missives in A3 and;

• marked it with all the different colour pens the Head stipulated students and staff had to use for every single piece of work, including circling all the SPAG errors (comments included 'Unnecessary and excessive use of exclamation marks', as there was one at the end of almost every other sentence and 'Capital letters, please')
• added the 'What Went Well' and 'Even Better If' stamps with comments including 'Hitting send correctly' and 'The Year 7s had been asked to check it first' and then finished off with the DIRT ten point analysis.

And then pinned it up to the staffroom noticeboard.

I did quietly speak to one person at my last job and gently corrected her usage of apostrophes, their/there/they're and suchlike - not in a way to show her up, but so she didn't end up with irate parents correcting her - but senior staff should know better.

Even The Telegraph makes the most basic of errors

@MintyMabel "Discrete" is the opposite of "continuous" in maths, as the helpful screenshot below clarifies. I was making an (admittedly feeble) play on words. Your earlier comment was that a policy on "discrete" jewelry might be acceptable in some scenarios. I was resposnding that "continuous" jewelry might be even more interesting. or something like that.

@SarahAndQuack Your lengthy explanation to your kid about the hypothetical duties of the policmen etc etc proved my point for me:

When those who are in positions of authority break the rules that they are charged with upholding, our collective parenting task becomes that much more difficult as we have to embark on long-winded explanations (such as yours and mine), the chances being that our parental blah blah explanations will be far less effective than the entertaining visual of law-breaking police-officers and grammar-ignoring teachers.

That Telegraph "to harshly" is just "2 much".

YANBU, I'm unfortunately the bitch that would respond with corrections, especially as it is coming from the school (these things do matter and people are so blase about them at times).

However, my GCSE English teacher always wrote in to any publication, brand, even TV channels to highlight mistakes. I think attention to detail is important, it shows standards