MSGC: Good or Evil?

1.      On initial thought, MSGC doesn’t seem to hold a significant role in my writing, but that seems to be the point. As Tim McGee and Patricia Ericsson observe, MSGC is the “invisible grammarian,” and is not usually given the credit due. Even as I write this blog post I am dependent on the all-knowing power of the great spell-check to catch my embarrassing mistakes before I post them for the whole wide internet to see. Throughout my academic career, MSGC has saved my butt countless times. I can remember the first time MSGC was introduced to me in elementary school, the not-so-technology-savvy technology teacher warning us that MSGC didn't catch all of our mistakes and couldn't be relied on. However, for the rest of my time in grade school I was thoroughly dependent on the Checker to hold my integrity. Never having been a very good speller, MSGC became my best friend.
2.      Until class on Tuesday, I didn’t know that you could manipulate MSGC, embarrassingly enough. Countless times I’ve become quite aggravated with MSGC and the seemingly condescending squiggly lines coloring my papers, but I never knew that there was an option to shut it off.
3.         I don’t believe that teachers really have a choice in the matter, especially in elementary school. MSGC is something that has been widely accepted and rarely questioned, taken for granted and used by all. Whether teachers want it or not, their students will use it. However, I don’t think that it should be required. Myself the perfect example, I became dependent on MSGC at an early age, and am probably a worse speller because of it. Forcing students to use it may result in a generation clinging to MSGC as a crutch. MSGC is the gateway-drug of technology, teaching students that rather than learning and bettering themselves, they can just rely on technology.