Wot I lernt at skool tooday.

Apparently teachers have been told “...not to ­highlight more than three incorrect spellings. This is so children’s self-confidence isn’t damaged.”  Bit weird - why three?  I get this silly mental image of a child being told they've spelled a word wrong and going "so what" and then a second word and saying "OK then" and a third word and replying "not to worry" but then being told they've spelled a fourth word wrong and going to pieces and screaming and banging their head against the wall.  Spelling either matters or it doesn't it seems to me.  There is a school of thought which says that provided the reader understands what the writer is saying, any incorrect spelling is immaterial.  I'm old-fashioned - the occasional mis-spelling can be overlooked but consistent spelling mistakes are to me the sign of slapdash mind, and a slapdash mind usually belongs to a slapdash person.