A RANT: Whatever happened to good writing?
September 10, 2008 by Jean Murray
I received a rant today from a good friend who is a dentist, and I want to publish it in full:
I have to talk to you about this. Why aren’t the high schools educating people anymore????? I am looking for another assistant, but their English is TERRIBLE! These applicants can’t write in complete sentences. They fail to capitalize the first letter of sentences. They write “i” instead of “I”. Geez!!!!!
I told one applicant yesterday to go take a business English course if she wanted to succeed in the work environment.
The worst offender was a guy who purported to be a headhunter. He wrote me an e-mail using “u” rather than “you”. I wrote him back and told him I’d never have someone screening applicants for me who couldn’t write proper English himself.
I have all kinds of ideas about the educational system and agree with McCain that we need to help bad teachers find a different career. When did we allow this mediocrity to be the norm???
Three reasons why no one can write a decent sentence anymore:
1. No one – not parents, not schools, not employers – holds anyone to any standards. Everyone is too afraid of destroying children’s self-esteem to tell them they can’t write or to hold them accountable to write well.
2. No one – not parents, not teachers, not employers – would know a good sentence if it hit them in the face. Do you know what’s wrong with this restaurant catchphrase?
Home cooking at it’s best!
How about this sentence, in a letter from a graduate of the college where I teach?
As you will notice, the student’s may have two doctors during a shift ….
I’m sure you can give other examples.
3. Email. We’re used to writing fast and sloppy and no one on the web corrects grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure. Why bother? No one will notice anyway.
As my friend says, Finding someone with a good work ethic, a decent command of their native language and a little intelligence seems to be very difficult. What’s going to happen to this country with these people making up the work force???
I know I sound like an old person but I know it was better in “our day”. What’s the world coming to??
I’m off my soapbox. What about you?
Tell your friend the dentist, that his quote about teachers,was an Obama quote. Not McCain.
Until teachers are paid a decent salary, this is only going to get worse. I hope there were no obvious flaws in that sentence.
I wanted to be a teacher when I was younger, but quickly realized that I didn’t want to be a one-woman not-for-profit the rest of my life.
This pitiful trend is the main reason I’m planning on homeschooling my children.
Note: My comments are usually more interesting but when there is a grammar and punctuation rant, I get all nervous and weird about what I write. My apologies if the content is dry!
No offense, but I think the under-paid teacher answer is only a tiny part of the problem. In many school districts, teachers make a very nice salary. And some teachers make much more than I do (and I do okay).
I have 17 (or is it 18?) nephews and nieces that generally attended the same school district. Some write very well while others couldn’t find the shift key with a gun pressed against their heads.
I get 100+ word email messages without ANY punctuation or capitalization. I have to copy the message to a text editor and work my way through the mess – adding punctuation, fixing spelling errors, capitalizing words, adding words they didn’t bother typing (honest), etc – to understand what they are trying to tell me. That’s just to get close enough so I can understand the message.
One of my nieces thinks “and” is spelled “an” because that’s how she pronounces it! Seriously. And don’t try to correct her (“it’s not MY fault!”) because that usually gets her mother (my sister) on my back for being ‘mean’.
@Jean – You have it right. If a person is not held accountable then he or she will never develop the skills. That’s true for writing, decision making, honesty, etc.
How are you ever going to ‘get it right’ if you never fail?
I think success or failure at being able to write is individual. I think it is motivation, including internal (self) motivation and external motivation (aka encouragement). I think “good enough” is also something many schools and parents allow; that’s not saying individual teachers but, rather, the entire district (policy, priorities, etc).
And please don’t think this is new. I deal with department managers, directors, vice presidents, etc that cannot write. Many of these people are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. I’m convinced it is individual. I’m also convinced there are more individuals to go around (i.e. more people = more likely to meet a certain type of person).
@jennydecki – The home schooling idea probably has a much better chance of success than the average school district. Good on you.
Um, that’s my mini rant. (Sorry, looks like you hit a nerve.)
ps: No, I’m not a teacher.
Ok, not such a “mini” rant. The little box must have made it seem “mini”. I’ll be good next time.
Thanks for your rant, Jeanne! I agree that things are becoming serious. I also agree with Jenny that better pay for better teachers is needed. Did you hear about the experiment in D.C.? http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0903/p08s01-comv.html
National standards are also needed. My husband’s education in New York was much different than mine in Idaho.
Thanks for your comments, Jenny and Miranda. Funny, I also found myself editing myself, and my friend’s stuff too. (Do you know how to spell “purportedly”?
It’s an awareness thing, and you don’t become aware unless someone tells you it’s important. I think there’s another post in here somewhere….
I was skeptical about your assertion that raising pay for teachers would affect student performance. But after reading the article Miranda suggested, I might have to change my mind. Anyone else want to jump in and comment on this issue?
Excellent rant Jean and Mr. Dentist!
One problem with schools today – as jennydecki pointed about above – is indeed the teachers. However, it goes beyond just the teachers and on into what is expected of the teachers. So, it’s not just the teachers. It’s the schools, the boards of education, and all other academic powers-that-be.
My best friend just started teaching last year. In the course of 90 minutes, she’s expected to:
- Go through an eight-step “discipline process” with each student who misbehaves during that period. (This “process” was set in motion to decrease the number of kids sent to the office. She can’t send anyone to the office until each of the eight steps has been carried out, so, she could be going through eight steps with eight different kids at one time.)
- Sign and stamp the cards of every student who follows a four-step program designed to, I don’t know, get the kids in line or something. The kids have to show organization, respect, participation, and some other something (I can’t remember), and she has to “stamp” each thing they showed that day, and sign her name for each day. (There are 26-30 kids in each of her classes.)
- Make sure each student has the necessary tools to complete an assignment. I’m not talking about pencils and paper. I’m talking about a handful of students in each of her classes who need each question read aloud to them because, as middle school kids, they are on 3rd and 4th grade reading levels.
These are just a few of the things I remember from our last phone call (re: her last venting session). These are things she is required to do every single day – things that severely cut into instructional time.
And we wonder why kids can’t do math or get a working handle on grammar? There’s one reason. The teachers are too busy trying to please the school systems (and keep their jobs) by following BS “eight-step discipline processes” and putting cute stamps on cards to be able to devote enough time to actual teaching. Google, MySpace, and instant messengers are teaching the kids.
u no?
@Donna- Your comment that this is an Obama quote is interesting. I double-checked and found it in the text of McCain’s acceptance speech. Maybe they’re stealing each other’s material!
Jean