IIRC, there was a scrap here about this, and it's an ongoing battle.
Well as a "British" speaker and speller (Australian) I have to admit that both the US and the British sides of most of theze fightz are wrong, but the official US side makes more sense.
An extract from :
-ize or -ise Many people in the UK believe that words ending in ?-ize? such as ?organize? are US spellings, and that the correct spelling is ?organise?. However, the Oxford University Press insists that words such as computerize, capitalize, capsize, organize, organization, privatize, publicize, realize should take the -ize ending, but that others, eg analyse, advertise, advise, arise, compromise, disguise, despise, enterprise, exercise, merchandise, revise, supervise, surprise should take the -ise ending.
In the Concise Oxford Dictionary you will often find that both options are possible in British English - 'realise' or 'realize', 'organise' or 'organize' - whilst for other entries -ize is listed as unmistakably American, e.g. 'analyse' = British English, 'analyze' = American English.
Here's a checklist you can use:
Noun and verb: Where the noun and verb are the same (like ?exercise?), use -ise.
Pronounciation: Anything that doesn't sound like ?-eyes? uses -ise, such as ?promise?.
Stem: Where the stem word (usually Latin or Greek) ends in ?is?, then use -ise, as in vis (to see) gives ?televise?.
Anything else: Use -ize."
I reckon I'll stay the way I was, and keep out of the arguments about who is "right"
I do have to say that anyone who is teaching me correct "pronounciation" could at least learn to spell it proper.
***************************************************** Have you noticed that people always run from what they _need_ toward what they want?????