Should I correct a teacher?

[Sadgirlonatrain]

In my son's recent geography homework, one of the questions on the sheet referred to the decline of coal mining in the North East.

"How would this of effected the area?"

No wonder the use of 'would of' is so widespread now, never mind the incorrect use of 'effected.'

Would you say anything to the school?

DS was taught that the UK consisted of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and that Belfast was the capital of Ireland.

Bloody hell, that's terrible! Far worse than a grammar error in a geography lesson. I'd definitely complain about that.

I wouldn't complain about the bad grammar though. Just tell your child the correct way and point out that teachers make mistakes too sometimes. The kids love it when I make a mistake writing something on the board - usually missing a letter out when writing quickly or a really daft mental maths error (eg today I thought that 90 - 25 = 35 and year 12 thought it was the funniest thing ever).

It’s awful but we live in a world of declining literacy. Many people lack spelling and grammar skills. Teachers are just a reflection of a bigger issue. My husband was taught no SPAG in the seventies and eighties whereas I was. He still asks me for help now.

So whilst these errors make me cringe, I wouldn’t bother complaining. My kids are near the end of their school ‘career’ and I have accepted that many many teachers cannot spell or use grammar correctly. Luckily my kids have me and also have good spelling and grammar. I think it’s something I have just accepted from teachers and others; it’s just endemic.

Even as a TA I’d be embarrassed to have sent that to parents.

Mine too, and a similar thing happened to me in year 8. I used the word "toothsome" in an exam essay only for the bimbo* teacher to stroke it out and tell me there was no such word. I am sure I argued...

*I use this word advisedly as she loved nothing more than wiggle her bum round in front of the boys, and share Valentine's verses - we were 11!

As for the spelling and grammar in that worksheet - appalling!! I'd raise it with the head of year. There's no excuse whatsoever for that.

It's a state school in the NE. Most of the teachers speak in regional accent, as do I, and in conversation I'll use all kinds of slang and silly typical north east dialect, as well as woulda coulda shoulda etc. But I'm completely aware of how to speak correctly and would do so if I was composing a PowerPoint piece to give out as homework to my year 10s.

My son does know this is wrong and is often telling me about mistakes here and there from all.of his teachers, unfortunately. It's quite frustrating for him as he wants to correct it but would never think to go to his teachers and point it out. I only noticed this one today as I had a slow morning at work and decided to log on to his class charts to see what he has to do tonight. I bet loads have slipped through the net!

'Would of' can never be a typo. I think lots of people genuinely think this is correct. Effect and affect are a bit more tricky, but then again, teachers should really know the difference, especially if they want their pupils to understand.

Again, by no means do I want to seem to be teacher bashing. I just think teachers and students should be held to the same standards, whatever the subject. Weirdly, as we speak, I've just had an email to say the school has to close tomorrow..... I hope they're going to have a mass staff SPAG test 😉

How to behave about the worksheet depends on how you would like to be made aware of errors yourself.

1.Would you like someone to notice your error and say nothing (perhaps leaving you exposed to others who will notice the mistake too)? I this case it is an error that might spread - since children are learning from it.🤐

2.Would you like someone to report the error to your boss ? blush😬

3.Would you like someone to draw your attention to the error -( perhaps in a note which shows you are appreciated for your other strengths)?

@Frabbits
Yes, I would. However, I would address it professionally and clearly with the teacher, not give them a furious ear-bashing. It is very unlikely that 'how would this of effected' is a typo, and it is a very poor standard of written English. It is really important that teachers model to children what is expected of them, and (as has been seen on this thread) getting their written English right saves teachers from being ridiculed or accused of lazy incompetence. For context, this has happened more than once with some of my staff and the more pernicious parents WhatsApp groups.
Having said that, if this is a secondary school I wouldn't address it with the head but would suggest that the teacher gets a colleague to proof read their documents, especially if they are inexperienced or possibly dyslexic.
@OhMonDieux
I am sorry to hear you are aghast at how I choose to spend my lunch break - we 'hard working teaches' are still allowed those, you know.

It’s not “just” the poor literacy in what seems to be a large and growing minority of teachers that I have a problem with. It’s the fact that they must have a very low level of interest in their work and their pupils.

It would be one thing to make an error while on the spot or writing quickly on a whiteboard. Quite a different thing to produce an exam sheet with so many errors in it.

I don't think I've ever written 'would of' or could of' because it doesn't make sense, so I would think the teacher actually thinks it's right.

So they need it pointed out.

Honestly. I’m a teacher and it’s depressingly common to see that kind of thing written by teachers these days - even so called senior management. Our HT isn’t even all that literate.

Gives me the silent rage.

Maybe a teacher can clarify but in some subjects aren't correct grammar and spelling afforded extra marks at GCSE?
Either two things strike me: my DV would have spotted the error and most all respect for the teacher, and in fact you could argue that the change of verb changes the meaning of the sentence. It's hard to tell in its mangled state. But it could, in theory confuse a student t and lead them to give the wrong geographical answer. Stuff like this does matter.
A gentle correction to the teacher o think. I wouldn't go above his or her head

@Sadgirlonatrain - I did send in a correction to something a teacher wrote in my son's homework, where the teacher was correcting my son but used really poor grammar and, like your teacher, wrote "would of" instead of "would've". So I corrected the teacher's grammar and English (I can't remember which subject it was at the time) but only because the teacher was correcting my son's work and did it so poorly.

I understand that the teachers today are probably people who were born in the early 1980's and would be much more familiar with text speak and when you speak out loud, you say "would've" which, if written down would sound closest to "would of" than "would have".

It drives me dolally seeing such poor grammar and spelling, especially from teachers (sorry, but it really does). Teachers are supposed to be imparting their knowledge and wisdom to the next generation. It's no wonder we needed spell checkers and autocorrect in apps.

I hope you did or are planning to send the correction back to the teacher. As the saying goes, every day is a school day and learning doesn't stop when you walk out through the school gates!

Addressing it "professionally and clearly" is not hitting the roof, is it?

The first is obviously fine. "Hitting the roof" implies that furious ear-bashing. So that's either some rapid backpeddling or you made a simple mistake which evidently happens to the best of us.

My late DH was deputy head in a school where the head simply could not write. The school secretary would have to correct his spelling and grammar before sending out letters to parents, and any other professional or public documents that he wrote, she would quietly forward to my DH so that he could correct the grammar before she saved them or sent them on to the recipients.

This was in the 2000s. Now that IT has developed to the point that admins are not needed as 'middlemen', people like that head are being outed as the poor writers and communicators that they are.

It’s hardly ideal but unless the teacher is an English teacher, I’d leave it. I’d rather my child had a good / inspiring teacher who made grammatical errors than a dull teacher with perfect written English. (Of course, no guarantee about the good teacher bit.)

I’m a book editor and I caught myself saying ‘Mum and me went… ’ the other day 😳 It happens…

Addressing it "professionally and clearly" is not hitting the roof, is it?

In that situation, I would hit the roof privately, and acct on it professionally. As most of us do.

Yes it’s a disgrace. My granddaughter would have pointed it out to the teacher herself. 😂

My son (9) came home the other day and said that he was getting very fed up with some other children in his class with the mistakes they were making when they were talking. Eventually he turned around and said "it's not me and Izzy, it's Izzy and I".

Was half cringing (he already has no friends) half proud (at least he has listened to what I have taught him!)

It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake. You’re not a teacher whose pupils look to you for the correct way to write and who will assume, justifiably, that your errors are the correct way.

My friend did a project with her class on native Americans. The Navajo and Sioux tribes. Unfortunately she thought they were pronounced Nava Joe and Si ooo ks. A parent came and had a quiet word. She took it well.

The kids will be marked down when taking the GCSE English Language paper, if they make mistakes - especially 'would of'. They need to pick up the correct grammar, as they go along.

We don't know how examiners mark - exactly. They might get a bit tired and be biased in favour of the candidate who has flawless grammar, rather than impressed by the student who has some very thoughtful and perceptive ideas, resulting from a deep love of literature.

It does matter at secondary level, for this reason.

I live in Ireland and currently have a similar dilemma.

DS’s French teacher wrote a paragraph outlining the homework to be completed and wrote “yer” or “ye” instead of “your and you” several times during the piece. I know these words are commonly spoken locally, but surely teachers shouldn’t write that way in a formal school assignment? Luckily, DS is extremely competent in English so I won’t say anything to the teacher just yet but I might raise it as a general point during the next parents evening.

I remember my son bringing home a list of spellings to learn. Two were spelt wrong. I took them back to the teacher the following morning who couldn't see what was wrong.

Get that red pen out op!

That is disgraceful grammar from any literate adult, from a teacher it’s appalling.