Ever since the school of early days spelling has accompanied “reading,
’riting, and ’rithmetic” as a part of the curriculum. The day when
reading was taught by the “spelling method,” so called, is not far back
in the past. “How can one learn to read if one does not know his
letters, that he may be able to spell out the words that he meets in his
reading?” Not until recently has the question been asked, “Why do we
study spelling at all?” Do we need it in our reading? Modern methods
have shown us that we do not. We need to know how to spell only when we
wish to write. How often does the average person write “phthisicky,”
“magisterial,” “ichthyology,” “convalesce,” and other equally uncommon
words? Not often, perhaps never. Then why spend the time of our
overcrowded school day in having children try to learn these words, when
numerous recent investigations show positively that children are
constantly misspelling “which,” “there,” “their,” and many other common,
everyday words?