*facepalm*

[textualdeviance]

I believe I have discovered how kids are failing to learn proper English.

Here's the sad beginning of an e-mail I just got from a kindergarten teacher:

Actually it has been a long time since anyone has come to my class that has not been to preschool. So kindergarten is usually is not there first experience.

The rest of the mail is just as bad, with improper use of parentheses and egregious abuse of ellipses.

Meh. I give up.


ETA: This reminds me that I meant to link this.

It's a damn shame the guy had to go all technophobic (and I sent him a rather pointed e-mail to that effect) because the rest of his point is solid, and worth paying attention to.

Comments

[dimebagsatriani.livejournal.com]

...Shawna...

...this e-mail (proper AP style yay!) makes me fear for the future of our children.

It also made me throw up in my mouth just a little. Who and whom is one thing... It's antiquated.

There/They're/Their is something completely different. Bleh. Bleh Bleh Bleh.

[miss-swamp.livejournal.com]

That teacher is not alone her poor writing skills, alas. Most of our staff would use there/they're correctly, but apostrophes are incomprehensible to at about 1/4 of them. My principal has me proofread everything she sends out, because I'm considered the "picky" one. When I discover other teachers' mistakes, I'm always torn: correcting them seems impolite, but it's a matter of also professional accountability.

*sigh* This is why people think teachers are stupid. I can't say I blame them, but most of us know what we're doing. Honest.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

I don't doubt that there are plenty of teachers who just don't care, but I also wonder whether there's a bigger problem brewing. The article I just added to my post talks about slipping grading standards. Kids who can't pass standardized tests are somehow getting high graduating GPAs. I wonder if this is a matter of pressure to get kids into college--whether they're qualified to go or not--or just a steady decline in overall standards. Perhaps it's an aversion to holding kids back a grade, even when they clearly need the extra class time. Do you guys get pressured by administrators to push kids through before they're ready?

I think it's fair enough to graduate a student with marginal language skills, but to give them a high GPA just seems silly to me. It's not just language, either. A while back, I made a post about how one of my fellow students at Western had no idea what a bill is, much less the process of how one becomes law. I wonder how a student like that ever managed to get into a school that had a minimum 3.6 GPA for incoming freshmen last year.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. I usually don't care much about the occasional flub in informal communication. Goodness knows I make enough mistakes of my own (I am the queen of passive voice. Go, me!)

This mail was a doozy, though. I could barely follow it for all the times she used ellipses instead of periods. Gah!

I try to avoid my growing grammar warrior tendencies, but some people should really know better. I feel a strong need to whack this woman upside the head with a trout.

[forestrane.livejournal.com]

I not surprised by the teacher's poorly written email. When I was an office manager, I didn't allow anything to get sent to clients without it being proofread. The staff would actually argue with me over my corrections. That was until I kept my Business Writing class textbook in the office.

It's rather scary to realize how much education has fallen from when I was a kid.

[forestrane.livejournal.com]

Now, how did I leave off the 'm to the first word. That's rather funny.

[digitallux.livejournal.com]

I have learned quite a bit about the decline in our children's education. First from having worked for a public school system for 5 years, second from my daughter's reading tutor. I really enjoy going to her sessions because I am "relearning" all the basics, plus the origins behind words and punctuation. It is scary to think what is NOT being taught in the school system.

[miss-swamp.livejournal.com]

Okay, but what should we do about this decline? I'm not offering excuses, but asking for advice on how to manage the real obstacles we face. We teachers can't help that kids don't read for pleasure. Their parents don't; why should they? Homework assignments take second place to babysitting younger siblings, or they simply get forgotten in favor of TV or games.

Teachers spend so much time trying to motivate kids, to make reading relevant to their lives, that I never have time to get to Latin and Greek roots--as much as I'd love to. We fit lessons on social skills, technology, health and investigative science into the same 6-hour day that used to be spent just on reading, writing and math.

And don't get me started on math reform or English language learning.

I'm not saying things are great, but I also honestly don't think there are very many teachers who just plain don't care. In most cases, it's too draining to be "just a job." So, for those of us who want to be part of the solution, what do you suggest?

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

I personally think reform needs to be at the administrative level, in terms of stricter grading requirements. If students keep getting rewarded for poor performance with better grades than they deserve, then they have no motivation to do better.

I'm normally more carrot than stick, but for some students, learning itself isn't enough of a carrot. I think they have to be confronted with the possibility of being held back a grade to get them going. I realize that with overcrowding, this is a logistical nightmare, but the alternative--generations of uneducated kids entering the job market with no hope of doing well--is much worse.