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Oh she isn't special ed....the ENTIRE family speaks/writes this way! My husband's sister who grew up in Northern Va also falls into this category. How they were raised in the same home is beyond me.
As has been pointed out, so do a lot of people on CD, especially over on P&OC where they blast the "intellectuals".
It makes me sad to think that the education system is failing so many people. I guess standards really have been lowered.
I don't think so. I can remember reading hospital charts back in the early 70s. Many contained such errors, even some written by RNs, and occasionally some written by MDs.
My son is in daycare and his teacher is working on her bachelor's degree in education. She used our family as a test case and gave us a copy of the report. The paper was filled with text speak errors BUT the teacher also speaks incorrectly. She is super nice and the kids learn a lot but her speech is lacking. Who are you going to attract when you don't pay much? Daycare teachers are grossly underpaid. I can at least work on the speech at home but the way she gets them to sit down and focus on a task is a skill I lack!
In my area (NC) as well as where the cousin is from in WVa it is common for people to speak incorrectly. I realize it translates into the writing skills. I find it sad--because from a professional point of view I would have a hard time hiring someone with such bad speech/writing. It limits your options.
I remember having papers graded in school and having to rewrite them to correct the mistakes.
I have a patient who is a college professor at a small religious school in town and we discussed the current state of education. He said that when he started 20 yrs ago it was very different. Freshman came in with the required skills but now he has to review the basic remedial English standards before getting into the college level work.
See above. 20 years ago, a lot of these kids who needed remedial English didn't go to college.
I was raised in a family where TY notes were forced down my throat and expected by my parents. SO I am thrilled when I get one!! I do find it ironic that the TY note is for graduating from HS but exhibits the lack of learning.
So don't send a gift the next time, if the quality of the TY isn't up to your standards and you want the gift back.
Eh. We had 3 functionally illiterate people graduate from High School with my year in 2002. They just had other people do their assignments, and since the vast majority of our tests were in Scantron form (easier to grade), they guessed well enough to pass.
I seriously doubt the girl is functionally illiterate.
Grammar is not high-priority in the current system. There are many things that are highly tested, and writing with perfect grammar is very low on the totem pole in many states. While there is a writing test in most states, it's more about end-marks, capitals, spelling, structure, and focus of an essay. Most of the people grading it are ill-equipped to judge grammar, as they let anyone with a college degree grade for most state tests (or sometimes lower standards). Most people lack basic editing skills and may not even catch that, buried in an essay they have 3 minutes to read and grade with a number score.
Not to mention: Language Arts is supposed to be the main class to teach Reading, Writing, and Grammar. Those could honestly be three separate classes. The kids should be learning Reading and Writing in all 4 core classes (every class, including Math, should theoretically have writing) but it rarely happens, mostly because everyone thinks it's the LA teacher's responsibility. There's only so much time. I spent most of my time in the classroom getting kids to read. I love writing, and I love to teach it, but when you inherit high schoolers who can't really understand what they read, it takes a lot of time to bring them up to speed for the test, which is more crucial than the small Writing portion.
Grammar in speech is not a priority at all. I'm not sure it should be, personally, as most folks don't speak grammatically correct -- even those without regional accents that are looked down upon. The regional accent/phrasing this girl uses happens to be one that would be looked down upon; it really is no worse than the way most people speak, from a linguistics POV. It is just less socially acceptable. (As you hear more world accents and study linguistics, it becomes clear that a "good accent" and a "bad accent" are really just social conventions.) Even though, I speak with better than acceptable grammar and a "good" accent (we all have accents), I really don't feel the need to ever correct someone in speech for a purely grammatical error, unless it hinders meaning or I'm teaching someone in an ESL classroom. It's condescending and kind of silly.
No, no, no... what you are hearing and reading from the locals is not wrong, it's non-standard English. It's because you are in the southeast, and as far as they are concerned, they speak and write perfectly fine, and you are the one who talks funny.
The first time I talked to locals in Greenville SC (less rural than WV and western NC!), I could barely understand them ("you gettin merred?", that means you're not going to be single anymore).
I live in the midwest where "needs fixed" is considered standard English.
e.g. "this printer needs fixed" .
I am not making this up!
I'd be thankful that I received a thank-you at all. A pen-on-paper note is indeed a rarity these days. Sad.
I've thought about this some more, and don't agree with those who believe the gift giver should be satisfied she received a thank-you note and excuse the poor grammar.
At some point, the "something's better than nothing - any effort is better than none" mentality became accepted. That wasn't always the case. (And it wasn't during the Mesopotamian era )
In my opinion, E-mail, Twitter, and texting have all played a role in degrading English usage; however, that doesn't mean parents and teachers shouldn't insist on proper English. It's not that kids aren't capable, it's laxity from the adults who should be monitoring their language skills who instead let it lapse.
The dumbing down of America isn't amusing, nor should it be excused. What value is a college degree when it's holder can't write at grade school level?
I've thought about this some more, and don't agree with those who believe the gift giver should be satisfied she received a thank-you note and excuse the poor grammar.
At some point, the "something's better than nothing - any effort is better than none" mentality became accepted. That wasn't always the case. (And it wasn't during the Mesopotamian era )
In my opinion, E-mail, Twitter, and texting have all played a role in degrading English usage; however, that doesn't mean parents and teachers shouldn't insist on proper English. It's not that kids aren't capable, it's laxity from the adults who should be monitoring their language skills who instead let it lapse.
The dumbing down of America isn't amusing, nor should it be excused. What value is a college degree when it's holder can't write at grade school level?
Mediocrity shouldn't be the goal.
(I know I'M not the best writer either. )
Thanks Creek Hollow! I am appreciative of the TY note! Had it been for a 6th grader birthday gift--I may not be as shocked! Is it too crazy to expect when someone graduates from high school they can write a simple grammatically correct sentence? I probably wrote a huge run on there--I was called the comma queen in my 9th grade Honors English class so punctuation is not my strong suit!
"Could of came" cannot be much simpler. Why is it so horrible of me! to think that high school graduate should be able to speak or write correctly?
Based on a lot of the responses I guess I should get used to the overwhelming majority of Americans who can't speak or write and just let it go. I will have to cringe in private.
I spent the evening correcting my 2 yr olds "MINES" whines. She will thank me when she is older! My grandmother used to harp on me that "you lay something down and it lies there" so when I would say I was going to LAY OUT in the sun I got a speech! Her other favorites were-- Often --the T is silent and there is a difference in Picture and Pitcher. So I will blame my grandmother for my grammar OCD!
Oh and here in the south we don't PUSH the button we MASH it!
I have a girl in my class, a senior, who insists on finishing every essay with "TTYL" and a happy face. I take points away and correct her each time adn it sticks for a day or two and then I re-correct her and show her the proper endings. It does make me crazy. She also writes "R" and "U" in her formal essays and yes, many of them write the way they speak.
On the special ed. comment: I teach HS special ed and the work is presented on grade level, with adaptations, but at no time is the work dumbed down or are my expectations lowered. That is remedial work and elementary school material. Most special ed students graduate with a standard diploma. A small percentage are allotted per school for alternative testing and alternative graduation standards.
And, if you work in a HS, you would see that it is not the majority of special ed students alone with poor grammar; sadly, half of the kids speak in text and write how they speak on the playground/ in the mall. One of the classroom policies I have is that they must utilize the classroom as they would a work setting and though they may act one way with friends, another set of expectations exist in the classroom.
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