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Grammar has pretty much been replaced by "holistic" writing, especially at the high school level.
The only English teacher I work with who took a grammar course in college is in his 44th year of teaching.
I graduated with my degree in English and secondary education in 1999 and was required to take a grammar course in college. People bitched about it, but it was quite necessary for most. However, I also attended an institution that had intensive writing requirements across all disciplines. It's a school that prioritizes something that many schools no longer do - speaking and writing as skills that actually matter and that should be learned correctly.
I typically am a person who is annoyed by forum posts that are consistently poorly written. I also spent enough time writing professionally (print journalism) to know that mistakes happen. It's easy to tell when something is a typo, that editing was done quickly and words were missed or added erroneously. Likewise, it's also often easy to tell when a person just doesn't know the difference.
I work with plenty of teachers who cannot write, have limited vocabularies, do not use correct grammatical construction, cannot spell, etc. Not the occasional rushed mistake that the person him or herself can easily identify as such if presented with it at a later time and would correct given the chance, but instances where people just don't know any better. I find it to be inexcusable. But given that I also find this with those who are responsible for the hiring and reviewing of these teachers, I don't see it as something that will go away. I also firmly believe that, in many cases, the best and brightest do NOT go into teaching, because they have the ability to get better compensation in other fields, which leaves a lot of space open for the mediocre. Sad, but unavoidable. Our society does not value teachers. Shouldn't be too surprising, then, that it's a profession that often courts the bottom of the barrel, accordingly. Some talented people do it for the love of it, regardless of the mediocre compensation. But they're not representative of the majority. That leaves a lot of marginally talented-to-untalented people.
Last edited by TabulaRasa; 01-28-2011 at 06:38 AM..
I'm sorry, you've lost me; what does hockey have to do with this?
It was just a glaring example of your hypocrisy. A quick perusal of your posts show plenty of typical "internet" style writing and a typical number of grammatical and spelling errors.
As I have perused the various state forums on C-D, I have come across many threads started by people who claim to be teachers in the various public school systems. Many of the threads concern potential for teaching positions in different states and cities, for example. What has jumped out at me so many, many times however, is not the actual content of the threads themselves, but the abominable grammar, capitalization, and spelling in some of these teacher-generated posts. Seriously, a junior high teacher who wants to find a good-paying job writes, "I don't want to loose my union benefits that I have here," or, "i am tired of living somewhere where its cold all the time," or, "There laying off teachers here now," or even, "I have went to alot of job fairs."
Wow. Someone please enlighten me. Is it that the colleges are passing people through who they shouldn't, and shouldn't this kind of content be covered in English Grammar from about the fourth grade and up? How do they pass high school English Grammar to even make it into college, much less become teachers? It worries me. How can these people correct students when they make spelling or grammatical errors when they do the same thing themselves and apparently don't even realize it?
I won't approach this topic in the actual threads where I see it, because I would be accused of personally attacking someone, and that is not my intent, but honestly, what gives?
I agree. If all the important things aren't important anymore, what is?
After reading the original post again, I'm struck that one of Canudigit's examples appears to be a plea for help finding a new job. Even if I knew about an available position, I simply could not bring myself to help someone who can't be bothered to check her spelling when attempting to network.
It goes back to a point I made earlier: my writing is an important way for me to demonstrate my professionalism, competence, education, intelligence, and character. A teacher who writes, "I don't want to loose my union benefits that I have here," when appealing for help finding a new job doesn't inspire much confidence.
Last edited by formercalifornian; 01-28-2011 at 10:25 AM..
After reading the original post again, I'm struck that one of Canudigit's examples appears to be a plea for help finding a new job. Even if I knew about an available position, I simply could not bring myself to help someone who can't be bothered to check her speliing when attempting to network.
It goes back to a point I made earlier: my writing is an important way for me to demonstrate my professionalism, competence, education, intelligence, and character. A teacher who writes, "I don't want to loose my union benefits that I have here," when appealing for help finding a new job doesn't inspire much confidence.
Check my posting history: I never made a claim to perfection, but I'm certainly embarrassed that I missed it.
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