Spell Checker doesn't catch everything

Alright, I know that title is not earth-shattering news to any of you.....

I'm sure most of you have been there. You know.... you type something, and in re-reading it you realize that you typed "from" instead of "form." Your spell-checker realizes you've typed a valid word, but it has no idea that your sentence makes absolutely no sense.

I have after-school supervision duty this afternoon, and as I was waiting for the students to be picked up, one student was telling me (read: griping) about the number of steps his teacher is making him do for his essay assignment. The steps include creating a rough draft, editing, and revising. (He may have mentioned more, but I had to stop kindergarten students from running out in front of traffic at least three times during the conversation, so I lost track.)

He explained how he thought it was all a waste of time. He could, he reasoned, just type it directly into the computer and skip all the steps between the rough draft and the final draft. In vain, I tried to explain that the computer does not catch all the mistakes. He quite simply wasn't buying it. I felt defeated, but it is a Monday, and Mondays generally come with that defeated feeling.

Then, I ran across this article. Please go read it (at least the first paragraph.) Not only is it a piece of good news for once (which is why I was reading it,) but it also proves my point. Where did the boy scout find safety?....What exactly is a sleeping back?

OK, I know, I'm preaching to the choir, but I had to use my blog for a little Monday afternoon therapy. Spell-checker is a wonderful tool, but it can't make up for simple human editing.

Thanks for listening. I really do feel better now.