Idiot Parent

[gunsage]

I'm fairly certain this applies as a third degree in that the teacher will have to deal with both the children and possibly eventually the parent, so here goes. So my wife and I had to take in my son for some blood work today per the pediatrician. Yeah, fun stuff. Anyway, while we're in the waiting room, we came across this interesting...thing...

DAP - Dumbass Parent
UK1 - Unfortunate Kid 1
UK2 - Unfortunate Kid 2

DAP is at the counter confirming some stuff with the receptionist. UK1 and UK2 are over at the table playing with stuff. UK1 whips out a workbook of sorts and starts whining that UK2 isn't helping him, so DAP comes over...

DAP: "'Ey now, you gah 'elp 'im wih dat when he do."

Me: (Was that English?)

UK1: "Mama, what's this?"

For clarity's sake, the kid was working on a page where the problem was always "what's missing." For this one it was an apple and a slice was missing. So "slice" or "piece" would have been acceptable. In fact, we're a community of relatively bright people, so I'm sure many, MANY more terms would've worked. Let's find out what DAP thought...

DAP: "Weh, you gah find ou' wah missin'."

Again, I apologize if I sound like I'm an ass for butchering this, but trust me, it was WORSE when I was hearing it.

UK2: "Okay, so it's an apple. So...a piece is missing?"

UK1: "Oh, okay! Mama, how do you spell piece?"

Me: (Please, God...it's 5 letters. I before E except after C and all that...)

DAP: "It's P...E...I...C...E..."

Me:

UK1: "Huh?"

Me: (Surely she'll realize she spelled it wr-)

DAP: "P...E...I...C...E..."

Both Me and The Wife:

Maybe I'm being too harsh about this, but both of us began to realize...that poor teacher. Especially because when the kid is told he's wrong, the kid will blame his parent, and when the teacher still says it's wrong, there's a good chance that parent will raise hell, even though it's wrong.

[ExRetailDrone]

Oh, the things I would like to say right now... but I don't want to get myself in trouble.

Those poor kids.

[dalesys]

Potatoe - D. Quayle VPOTUS

[Geek King]

Potatoe - D. Quayle VPOTUS

Just a note, but that is a valid spelling, even here in the U.S. It is also the way it was spelled on the card Quayle was given to judge the spelling contest. Poor guy gets an unfair kicking over that.

[Sparky]

It doesn't matter, teachers don't correct spelling anyway.

[Eisa]

Hmph. I like...live in Potato Land. We spell it "potato."

But how on earth do you not know how to spell "piece?" All you have to do is remember the rule: "I before E, except after C, or when sounded as "ay" as in neighbor or weigh."

[CaroPhoenix]

Last night, Child Rum's homework consisted of writing down the words "first, second, etc., ect. to twentieth." My father thought the word "ninth" was misspelled so he went downstairs to his computer and spell-checked it. "Ninth" is the correct spelling. I my dad, but sometimes ... yeah ... this is why I like to challenge him to a game of Scrabble and not my mom.

[gunsage]

I guess it especially bothers me because it it was something like lieutenant, okay, sure, I can see getting that wrong. But piece? Oh, give me a break. It probably doesn't help that I was in several spelling bees when I was younger, though.

[PepperElf]

well i admit i have trouble with "restaurant" (omg i actually got it right for once! without using the spell check). usually i type restarant and hope spellcheck can fix it for me. (often it tries telling me "restraint" however )

and in some cases i use other spellings... i dunno why but i use "theatre" instead of theater. ... to the point where even when i try to use the american spelling, i still type out the british version. (ironically though i use "center" instead of "centre"). go figure.

[Mr Hero]

The way I always remembered to spell "piece" is that the word has "pie" in it. You know, like a piece of pie?

[Ironclad Alibi]

All you have to do is remember the rule: "I before E, except after C, or when sounded as "ay" as in neighbor or weigh."

Weird science will disprove that rule.

[Mr Hero]

But how on earth do you not know how to spell "piece?" All you have to do is remember the rule: "I before E, except after C, or when sounded as "ay" as in neighbor or weigh."

and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May, and you'll always be wrong no matter what you say!

[LadyAndreca]

Weird science will disprove that rule.

Yeah, but 'weird' is spelled weird...that's how I remembered THAT one as a kid.

[ShinyGreenApple]

It's nothing new, unfortunately. My Mom is in her sixties and can't really spell worth beans. She homeschooled me; we used to get into arguments about how things were spelled and I was right more often than not My Dad was always a stickler about grammar and spelling though, and he'd drill those two subjects into me regularly, so I've ended up being what they call a 'grammar nazi'.

I have a friend at work in his early 30's who is relatively intelligent to talk with, but to look at his status updates and such, you'd wonder if he's finished middle school yet. I guess it's just not a subject that was pushed much in the last few decades.

[MoonCat]

Sounds like Dad needs to go to school, too. Wonder if they have an adult literacy program he could check out?