Advocates of inventive spelling focus on creativity when children are first learning to spell and write, feel this preserves self-esteem, and thus, feel creativity in spelling is most important. Opponents counter that creativity is a distraction when learning spelling for the first time, and that children ought to be taught accurate spelling as soon as possible so as not to have incorrect spellings become a habit and delay the learning of accurate spelling. The overwhelming view from parents is that children learn to spell more quickly and accurately if accurate spelling is the focus instead of creativity when learning words. Accuracy as the focus in spelling is the manner used in conventional teaching methods and was effectively universal prior to the implementation of 1970s school reform involving whole word literacy and "new math". 4