I am marking essays and I would like to share with you some of the elegant contributions of the world's future leaders.

[GoodWilfToAllMN]

"in the Neverlands..."

Nope. Not an essay about Peter Pan. Referring to Holland.

My favourite - some years ago now -

moeh

(mohair)

WILf - what is your subject?

LOL at lots of you.

Oh god, this thread is hilarious & terrifying in equal measure...

I thought the correct term was the ex-polys (polies?) was New Universities.

On one level I find these mistakes quite entertaining - from the viewpoint of having been relatively good at english and spelling all my life.

On the other hand my 9 year old dd is dyslexic and I think that in 10 years time it could very well be her best efforts and hard work that we are mocking. If she makes it to university at all it will be a big achievement for her.

Anyone can use a spellchecker though Podrick. And they can't all be dyslexic. My niece is dyslexic and she just gets someone else to check through her essays before she hands them in. And she is going to uni

Tiny town in the back of beyond,,,,must be Cambridge.

lol @ egog

I used to mark undergrad papers and it was appalling. My yr 5 class had better spelling & grammar

I did a five year professional degree with extremely high entrance requirements [puffs out chest] and one of my year was quite severely dyslexic. He sailed through with some special conditions (ie longer for exams) and now he's in practice and doing fine AFAIK.

I am and at egog. It's bad, though, isn't it?

IME there is amazingly little correlation between crap spelling in submitted work, and dyslexia. I often get dyslexic students whose work is always immaculate (because they take care and use all the resources they can like spellchecks and dictionaries).

That's a very good point, Kathy. My sister's dyslexic and she triple checks everything. Far less likely to make a mistake than anyone else.

It's nice to hear the positive comments about dyslexia and higher education. Right now I can't imagine my dd being able to cope but there is a long time for her to make progress I guess

rofl at Cambridge

Podrick, I've just given a first class mark to a student with SERIOUS dyslexia. The essay was by far the best of the bunch and was much more carefully presented than 60% of the other ones...

In my - and doubtless most - universities now, dyslexia is taken very seriously. Students with a statement get extra support which includes more time for exams, additional learning aids (recording devices, coloured films, even notetakers if necessary). They all have a raft of stickers which they have the choice of placing on their submitted work, notifying staff. We are not necessarily more lenient with these students but we do allow more 'interpretation' of what they are saying etc.

There are also (in my place) student support services who work on writing and reading skills etc to support dyslexic students.

It is not a barrier to good results.

Laziness and not turning up to a single lecture or ever reading ANYTHING so you have no idea how to write IS on the other hand.

And the mocking thing - I would only ever do it anonymously, always salve my conscience by offering lots of detailed feedback to them, and anyway, when you've marked pages of drivel, it's the only thing that keeps you sane!

my sister marks essays at a university and says some of the grammar is atrocious.