Clearly in New York, they have problems... http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/spell_check_tUhhoYBpTPZKcbv2zfEuaL

Me no see no prob! Seriously, though, stories like these make me thankful that there's a high-quality charter school near my home! (Though I'm not fond of standardized tests, they do help get the point across. . . According to the ISTEP test, the best traditional public school in my system has 75% of its students performing at grade level, whereas Community Montessori has 95%. The traditional schools take 2 weeks before the test to "prep" the students, while CM's prep is to tell the students to get lots of rest and eat a high-protein breakfast!) Hope I didn't sound like an ad for charter schools or get too preachy. . . I just had to get it out.

to be fair, I can't see how it's the actual school's fault.... unless the contractor concerned was a former pupil there!!

Presumably the contractor was a product of the NYC school system! Also, the worst part is that the misspelling was there for 18 months before it became 'news'... and only THEN did it get fixed! So it is the school's fault for not noticing and complaining!

Originally posted by KT1972 to be fair, I can't see how it's the actual school's fault.... unless the contractor concerned was a former pupil there!!

They're giving the school a rough time because the teachers and administration (who should know how to spell "school") have been looking at the misspelling for such a long time and never noticed it.

It's one of those circumstances where the brain knows what it's supposed to say and automatically makes the correction!

Heh, that is funny. I'm going to hope very hard that it was a result of careless/hasty installation... and that the delay fixing it was because of cost/scarcity of crews making this correction a lower priority than repairing other things within the school itself!

Originally posted by KT1972 It's one of those circumstances where the brain knows what it's supposed to say and automatically makes the correction!

But still, it's as LOL a situation as it can be! I can add a little story on this: many, many years ago, when the spellcheck was first invented (or at least, we started using it where I worked), I was a staff writer for an english-language newspaper. While working late, and extremely harrassed one night, I did a little piece on a local football team. Which I typed as"tram". It can happen, with the "e" and "r" next to each other Which the spellcheck, of course, did not pick up. MORAL OF THE STORY: Even spellcheck can land you in a LOL situation!

Devil's Advocate here ... Most of you know that I have a degree in English, and hold a teaching credential in the state of California. I graduated Cum Laude. I could have easily made that mistake. I got a B in high school Algebra (yeah, I'm dating myself, they didn't offer Algebra in middle school when I went through), because I could had 12 + 12 and get 42. In defense of the poor contractor, or the employee, who made the mistake and the schools who taught him/her, this is likely not a spelling error of the kind you expect from those who never learned to spell correctly. If that wear the case school would not have been spelled shcool, but skool. This is from one of two things: being rushed on the job or just in a hurry to get it over with to go on to something else (or maybe home for the night); or a transposition error that could have been made innocently and with lack of proper checks (seriously who's gonna check something like that), possibly even a mild for of dyslexia. Now, why wasn't it reported sooner. Maybe they figured why waste the time, Con Ed would probably just dig the street up again and fix the issue. Maybe they didn't notice as the human brain will read what it wants and while the words may have spelled shcool we would have read school. Interesting read TJ! Thanks for sharing.

Let me clear something up as far as my POV is concerned -- I'm not ragging on the workers who did the painting. I know they do hard work in a very limited amount of time, and that's when the weather's co-operating. It's even more stressful when bad weather puts them behind schedule. However, when it comes to the large number of people who saw the mistake several times a day, every day, for such a long time, then, yes, I'll bust some humps. While I can understand that the teachers can easily be too overwhelmed to jump through the required hoops to fix this problem, there are more than enough people in administration and other staffers who could have at least said something. (Not to mention all the parents who drove by there continually.) And please don't think of me as an armchair educator, either. I was once an English teacher, plus I can draw on the experiences of a grandfather, an aunt, and a boatload of cousins who have had long careers in just about every level of the profession. So, given what I know, I find it inexcusable for this mistake to go unreported for so long.

As someone who's a professional writer, I can tell you that no matter how many people are involved, things definitely slip through. Often in large fonts. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't be embarrassed when we let it happen, though.

Originally posted by ElectricWhite So, given what I know, I find it inexcusable for this mistake to go unreported for so long.

To be unreported, by anyone, yeah, that I find rather hard to believe, or it could be the finger pointing game. Parent reports to school, who says talk to the city, the city says talk to con ed, con ed points to the contractor, etc. Maybe it people got tired after the first wrong, try. Me, if I'd seen. I'd have laughed and said the painter needed a better proofreader or editor, but wouldn't have bothered reporting it. If I were real energetic, I might have taken a picture and sent it off to someone who publishes things like that. Maybe that's part of the problem. For what it's worth, I wasn't trying to argue against any particular point of view or opinion. I found the article an interesting read, and the discussion an interesting topic to toss in a different opinion. I also have a very dry style that doesn't come out right at times, on line or in person.

I agree Amethyst and Chris, I make mistakes like this all the time in my typing. Sometiems Word puts a squiggly red line under it, sometimes it doesn't. I can read one of my fics 10 times and find mistakes each time... and I'll still find something on the 11th time through. This is why betas are so valuable to me as a fresh set of eyes! And I don't even want to THINK about the vast number of typos I have made just posting on this site! However, when you are painting signs (on a wall or on the street) it's something for which you need to be extra careful, and check over and over. It's not like the 'sign' in this case was that long! And BOTH words on the sign were wrong (the X-ING above 'SHCOOL' was missing the 'I'). To me, that's extreme carelessness on the part of the person who did it.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun However, when you are painting signs (on a wall or on the street) it's something for which you need to be extra careful, and check over and over. It's not like the 'sign' in this case was that long! And BOTH words on the sign were wrong (the X-ING above 'SHCOOL' was missing the 'I'). To me, that's extreme carelessness on the part of the person who did it.

Ouch, yeah, that does sound pretty careless. Or functionally illiterate/reading disorder. That doesn't explain how long the sign stayed that way though.

I'd put that down to cost, it's not as simple to change as pressing the relevent key on a keyboard!

Originally posted by KT1972 I'd put that down to cost, it's not as simple to change as pressing the relevent key on a keyboard!

I can even understand that: the bee in my bonnet is that, apparently, nobody reported it! (Or did I misunderstand the reports?)

Originally posted by amethyst For what it's worth, I wasn't trying to argue against any particular point of view or opinion.

I'm sorry if it seemed as if I thought you were opposed to my point of view. After some of the posts I'd made over time, it occurred to me that some might say to themselves, "What the hell could she possibly know about this? Does she think she knows everything?" Couple that with a preposterously large number of times I've had to over-justify my views (usually to relatives or evangelical Christians), and I end up accidentally tossing clarity and diplomacy out the window. Again, sorry if I'd come across as being offended by anything.

What does "X-ING" stand for? I first thought of Star Wars and the X-WING, but it can't be that, I'm sure...So?

I think in this instance X means cross so X-ing means crossing!

Originally posted by ElectricWhite

Originally posted by amethyst For what it's worth, I wasn't trying to argue against any particular point of view or opinion.

I'm sorry if it seemed as if I thought you were opposed to my point of view. After some of the posts I'd made over time, it occurred to me that some might say to themselves, "What the hell could she possibly know about this? Does she think she knows everything?" Couple that with a preposterously large number of times I've had to over-justify my views (usually to relatives or evangelical Christians), and I end up accidentally tossing clarity and diplomacy out the window. Again, sorry if I'd come across as being offended by anything.

EW, I think we both suffer from this. On the bright side, when we agree, no one will be able to argue with us and everyone will be quietly (or not so quietly) waiting for us to shut up. On the down side, when we are disagreeing, everyone will be waiting for us to shut up and the dust to settle. Hopefully, knowing this about each other, will both be able to shrug things off more easily. The only thing scarier than a stubborn, opinionated woman is two stubborn, opinionated women on opposing sides.

Oh dear lord, just read this. Our local school system is looking at a deficit this year of just under 25 million. That's right, $25,000,000. Our district has been ranked nationally, award winning, etc...but with the economic downturn and budget cuts from the state our losses have been so huge as to be unimaginable. A misspelling like that on some pavement would be the LEAST of our worries. Please forgive the rant.

Originally posted by k2p2 Our local school system is looking at a deficit this year of just under 25 million. That's right, $25,000,000. Our district has been ranked nationally, award winning, etc...but with the economic downturn and budget cuts from the state our losses have been so huge as to be unimaginable.

You don't happen to live in California do you? I think you've just described half the basic aid school districts here.

Originally posted by KT1972 I think in this instance X means cross so X-ing means crossing!

Yes, this is an American thing. X is a cross, so X-ING means crossing. It's normally only used on street signs, although for all I know the teens use it in texting as well.

Originally posted by k2p2 Oh dear lord, just read this. Our local school system is looking at a deficit this year of just under 25 million. A misspelling like that on some pavement would be the LEAST of our worries.

You've got a point. However, I believe many people feel powerless about school system deficits, so the unusual incident with the school crossing misspelling gives them a reason to vent. Up until a couple of years ago, the school systems in my state were given free reign to raise property taxes. That might have worked at first, but, eventually, some people's taxes were 5x more than the actual value of the property! Thankfully, the state Constitution was amended to cap the tax rate. But now the school systems are scrambling to find new ways to raise money. (Some are considering selling ad space on the school buses.)