Parents now have a popular belief that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, greatly different ideas about how to teach it or how much priority (优先) it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is that how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling.
If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher’s interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play safe". He will be prone to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That’s why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is illegible (难以辨认的). "It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil’s technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which included some beautiful expressions of the child’s deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centred on the child’s ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation (动力) to seek improvement.