Just yesterday the 11yo from next door brought me an "essay"
he had written to show me his ribbon for best in class.

It was only two small pages of large writing of course, but
the teacher had not corrected a single spelling or grammar
mistake! I'm not talking about dangling participles here -
I mean there was almost no punctuation and any word over two
syllables was phonetically spelled out (and not well at
that!). Now this child loves to read, and when I questioned
him he said he thought some of his writing was "wrong" but
that the teacher didn't care as long as it was at least two
pages.

This boy goes to secondary school next year, and from what I
have observed there is no effort there to correct writing
standards either. One girl I tutored had her work corrected
when she was right and the teacher was wrong! I wanted to
write to the school but as I am not a parent there the girl
asked me not to as she didn't want the teacher getting mad
at her. What hope have we of producing literate students
with attitudes like that, and when even school report cards
come home with errors?

--

Cheryl & the Cats in OZ
o o o o
( Y ) ( Y )
Boofhead Donut
http://community.webshots.com/user/witchofthewest
catsatararatATyahooDOTcomDOTau


"Sunny" wrote in message
oups.com...
: Go, Pig! In my former life as a responsible, earning
adult, I was a
: writer. I was a newspaper writer/reporter for my entire
career.
: Newspapers often opt for "calarity over grammar" -- as if
the two
: were mutually exclusive. Drove me nuts. Even though I
always intended
: to be a reporter, my degree was in English Literature. My
husband is
: now City Editor of our local newspaper. He and I have had
some snippy
: discussions through our years together about language. His
position is
: that language and spelling are evolving, as they always
have, and that
: staid, stuffy traditionalists had better just give it up.
My position
: is that there is correct and there is incorrect and that
people who
: want to make their words public should first make certain
that those
: words are correct. I grit my teeth all the time when
reading
: everything from major daily newspapers to blogs. OMG
people! Get a
: tiny little copy of Strunk and White and learn to write
the English
: language.
:
: (I am not talking about folks, like all of us here, who
"talk" on
: posting boards. I really don't get too worked up about
grammar or
: spelling or such when we are having what amounts to a
friendly and
: very casual conversation. Nobody here is intending to
publish their
: words and immortalize their posts, so please don't be
offended by my
: little rant here.)
:
: Enough ranting. You get the picture. I fervantly wish that
people who
: write for public consumption would consult the necessary
books/
: websites/English teachers and write with precision and
conformity to
: standard English. And yes, I AM one of "those people".
:
: Sunny
: who grew up in rural, hicksville Texas saying such things
as "nukuler
: mirs" and "liberry" and "it's down around the co'ner", and
if I can
: learn and change, anybody can
:
:
: