Narkissos:
I think that separating formal and normative skills (like spelling and grammar) from creativity and imagination is not a bad idea, especially in primary school (my daughter is 9, not sure what grade it corresponds to in the American system, but it works this way too). I feel the older system (when I was in school 40 years ago) which ranked everybody on a single scale with the grammar and math nerd on the top (I used to be there) was actually unfair to all, as the creative "dunce" was constantly discouraged and the schoolish type didn't see the need to work on other skills.
Up to a point, I agree with you. (BTW, your daughter would be at a level equivalent of Grade 4 here, as she is about 4 years younger than my daughter.) I can see keeping spelling and grammar somewhat separate from creativity and imagination in the earlier grades. I would definitely think it is beneficial to students to have some expectations along the lines of
We will be learning certain words in our vocabulary and spelling. The expectations are that 1) you will spell these words correctly, 2) understand what they mean, and 3) utilize them in proper context in your story writing, as you learn them and integrate them into your repertoire.
But, no, this is not what is happening. They learn certain vocabulary/spelling words in Grades 1 to 6, and although they should know how to spell all these words, the students still misspell many of them and they are not made accountable for their mistakes (until report card time, as we have discovered). They start learning grammar in a formalized manner by Grade 5 and 6. By Grade 8, these skills should be well on the way to being integrated by a student and used as part of the whole of their language skills.
Maybe I'm too strict as a mom, but my 13 year old is not allowed to type her stories on the computer until I see a complete handwritten draft of her story. She thinks I'm being mean. But I want to know that she is spelling and using grammar correctly, rather than becoming dependent on the word processor program to find and fix mistakes for her.
I cringe when I see kids using calculators to do regular math problems (the school encourages this!), including multiplying double and triple digit figures or doing long division. They won't know how to perform these skills without some kind of machine to help them.
