"School Two Easy For Kids," Reports Indiana TV Station

Here's a quick tip - when you're a TV news program reporting that schools are dumbing down education for kids, make sure you spell the headline correctly.

Instead, WNDU in South Bend, Ind. aired a report on the subject, with the line displayed prominently behind news anchor Maureen McFadden's head: "SCHOOL TWO EASY FOR KIDS," Gawker reports.

Other TV news fails include Fox News's announcement last year: "Obama Bin Laden Dead" and CNN's "Part of right left amputated."

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[Julie Quinn Minne]

09:24 PM on 10/30/2012

This goes along with the fact that SBCSC doesn't place spelling in the school curriculum. I think they rely on "spell check" too much. Some students aren't always able to use a computer to do their spelling for them.
The principals of the schools and some of their other staff members have had misspelled words in their communications also.
What is this telling our children? Speaking properly isn't important? But yet they have to take a language in high school. They don't even know the first one properly.
This school district is behind and we need to help our children. Politicians are pushing for better college experience. This children will be behind before they even get to that point.
How can we make this a priority?

[wtfcate]

03:50 PM on 08/30/2012

pbrunda--I love your wit, and you write so eloquently--you always say exactly what's on my mind. I don't know how you keep up with everything, but you're my "go-to" person. Thanks!

[wtfcate]

03:32 PM on 08/30/2012

I agree wholeheartedly! People need to lighten the eff up!! Thanks for trying to explain the reality of these issues, it's too bad that it falls on deaf ears!

[chatnuptime1]

12:13 AM on 07/14/2012

I certainly hope that that headline was a deliberate attempt at sarcasm. Because if it isn't then more then the schools are a total fail. Creative English perhaps? As in I h8 to inform you but you just misspelled Too?

[JimAmling]

11:39 PM on 02/19/2013

"Because if it isn't then more then schools are a total fail"??? Should you, instead, maybe have considered writing, "Because if it isn't, then more than schools are a total fail"? Note the comma and the use of the word "than" in place of your "then".

[chatnuptime1]

11:32 PM on 07/13/2012

If they are to easy why are so many kids graduating illiterate?

[fisch123]

11:38 PM on 07/13/2012

because they are to easy.

[mspender]

05:57 PM on 07/14/2012

correction: their to easy.

[Ieatpopplers]

04:25 AM on 07/14/2012

Why don't you ask yourself? You made the same mistake as the news station.

[chatnuptime1]

12:48 PM on 07/14/2012

Oh so you think that I missed that Two instead of too in the comment.. I don't think that was a mistake. I think that was a sarcasm and a play on the word. To make a point of how schools are fairing these days. I h8 to state the obvious but people have no real sense of humor anymore and just jump to critical at the slightest errors.

[rmrgdr]

12:01 PM on 07/13/2012

Why is fundamentalism so unable to exist with reality and it's members so unable to learn?
The trouble is fundamentalist Christianity itself! The very nature of
fundamentalism is the premise that the Bible is the inerrant word of
God and that THEIR interpretation of same is
Divinely inspired and and equally inerrant. Anything that pops into
their heads is considered perfect because they "prayed on it".
Religious zealots that believe God literally guides their thoughts and
action are, by their nature dangerous. they are also, in my opinion,
nuts. That is a social no no though, as religion, no matter how crazy
get a veneer of respectability, particularly Christianity. Frankly, if
it weren't for this veneer, these folks would be considered mentally
ill.
ANYBODY, that thinks God speaks to them is delusional and
potentially dangerous.
Until the public outgrows this Bronze Age mentality, we must not allow
these folks in government ( by voting against them), they have no
respect for America, The Constitution, it's laws or the concept of tolerance, freedom and mutual respect.
In your arrogance, self righteousness and ignorance, fundamentalists are the modern day Pharisees.

[TimFredrickson]

01:17 PM on 07/13/2012

Bravo, a tour de force! Fanned

[Imissgeorgew]

01:51 PM on 07/13/2012

Uh...are you sure you posted this at the correct article?

[Eha]

09:21 AM on 07/13/2012

"Two" for "too" might be excused as a mere slip. But the use of the verb "fail" as a noun in the story's headline is awful. When did this ugly usage arise?

[Ieatpopplers]

04:28 AM on 07/14/2012

Two is a number, how do you excuse that kind of slip considering what they were reporting on. Fail jumped on over to being a noun around the same time or before google became a verb, stop being old.

[Eha]

01:08 PM on 07/14/2012

First, I said "might be excused," not just "excused." There's a difference if you think about it. Second, being old and curmudgeonly (and not likely to give that pleasure up owing to *your* urging me to do so), I do not excuse your comma splices. If you need that explained, "google" it.

[Mike Angelo]

07:58 AM on 07/13/2012

Just a question about this story.. if this really happened where is the actual video?

[premenos57]

03:52 PM on 07/13/2012

I've seen some very laughable misspellings on our local news. I'm sure it happened. And they want to defund education.

[chefwriter]

01:00 AM on 07/13/2012

Mistakes happen. It's not that big of a deal. South Bend, where my parents now live, is fairly democratic in its politics. It's a blue collar town that's been suffering a steady decline for many years.

Notre Dame and St. Mary's students do not stay to work at WNDU. Most of the people I've met who work there are graduates of other universities, though mostly IU South Bend. Notre Dame doesn't own WNDU, and the station is adjacent to the campus but not on it. I've been by and in the station countless times.

The schools in South Bend are under tremendous pressure because of budget cuts thanks to a lack of federal funding. They recently announced massive teacher layoffs. This is no laughing matter.

[premenos57]

03:55 PM on 07/13/2012

A lot of pressure is being put on schools. They don't need to defund education.

[rvrgarden]

12:18 AM on 07/13/2012

and, and WNDU.....LOCATED ON THE BEAUTIFUL CAMPUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME. AND WHERE IS FATHER HESBURG WHEN WE NEED HIM. ACTUALLY, THE UNIVERSITY SOLD THE STATION TO AN OUTSIDE COMPANY. YOU ALL LEAVE NOTRE DAME OUT OF THIS.....YOU HEAR....

[chefwriter]

12:52 AM on 07/13/2012

About time someone mentioned this. WNDU was sold in 1988 to Artistic Media Partners. And many of the employees are graduates of IU South Bend, which is pretty much a four year community college and not much more.

[updj]

12:06 AM on 07/13/2012

Guess where some of the graduates work?

[chefwriter]

01:02 AM on 07/13/2012

Not at WNDU. Most Domers leave town. Some come back as lawyers and doctors, but most of them get picked up in far better positions in other parts of the country.

[premenos57]

04:00 PM on 07/13/2012

I knew a young man who went to Notre Dame and the last I heard about him, he was working at a Texas station as a meteorologist.

[Stevie Hottman]

11:43 PM on 07/12/2012

Why can I not see the video? Can someone post the link for it?

[ggbungles]

11:28 PM on 07/12/2012

Watch everyone post nasty remarks.
Then stop and think about the last time they made a mistake.

[chtrek]

11:31 PM on 07/12/2012

The difference is we're not paid professionals.

[ggbungles]

11:36 PM on 07/12/2012

OK, I'll give you that. But are news readers professionals?

[encomiast]

11:46 AM on 07/13/2012

It's not that someone made a mistake; it's the delightful irony on making THIS mistake with THIS story. It's funny to almost everyone except the stick-in-the-mud curmudgeons.

[smp276dp]

11:27 PM on 07/12/2012

They had a second grader write the heading hahahahaha

[positano1970]

11:25 PM on 07/12/2012

How many of you HATE the commercials we have to endure to get to the actual information? I am sick of them. As regards the demonstration about "No More Testing", well I think there should be standardized testing. Aren't the SATs standardized testing? The quality of education in this country has greatly diminished in the last 50 or 40 years. We have "dumbed downed" our children to the point that have no clue as to correct spelling or history or whatever. If they are our future - heaven help us ! (LORD, I hope I spelled the aforementioned correctly !)

[Ieatpopplers]

04:41 AM on 07/14/2012

I never watch the videos because I refuse to watch the commercials. Also the cats like to unplug the speakers. As far as testing goes, focusing on tests is often detrimental to actual learner, because when the teacher is judged on how well their students do on the tests, why would you do anything other than teach to the test? And memorizing information for standardized tests is a waste of time. I'm in the midwest, so we do the ACT instead of the SAT. I really have no idea how they can put any weight on those. I took the ACT three times. I got a 28 overall each time (36 is perfect), but my subset scores varied wildly. The first time I took it I scored a 36 on the reading portion, the third time I didn't even finish the reading portion. Everyone else was able to finish on time because they had seen the movies March of the Penguins (it had come out that year) so they didn't spend any time reading the except about penguins -_- In addition, many of my friends that I consider to be my intellectual peers barely scored 18s and 19s, so how accurate are these tests really? Every day in school spent testing is a day that you are not learning or practicing new information and skills.