Are our schools be teaching grammar (because they certainly should be)?

Question

Every time I see somebody type, "your stupid," I want to hit that person with a skillet (preferably a large one). YOU'REis a contraction of YOU and ARE. YOUR is the possessive form of YOU. IT'S is a contraction of IT and IS, whereas ITS is the possessive form of IT. I don't mind spelling errors, or some grammatical mistakes, but I live in Westchester (one of the richest counties in the U.S.) and I saw a highschool girl make the word DOG plural by adding an apostrophe and S. "i have 2 dog's." In a different sentance in the same composition she left out the apostrophe in LET'S. Also, many adults I know don't know the difference between AFFECT and EFFECT. EFFECT is a noun, AFFECT is a verb. I can only conclude that our schools aren't teaching grammar, even though they have the resources to.

I deleted part of my title and replaced it. That is why there's a grammatical mistake. It's a typographical error. It's not a grammatical mistake, just a lack of reading over my post before posting it. My question is still valid (perhaps even more valid because I made a grammatical mistake while complaining about grammatical mistakes and I recieved my education from the U.S. public school system).

Answer 1

judge not lest yee be judged

Look at your question..."Are our schools teaching grammar?" is how that should be written.

Of course we are teaching grammar just most kids don't use what they learn in school in a chat room or online at all. So without practice all those lessons get lost. It is too bad. I was a teacher for years and felt so helpless . It also comes down to how we speak. Most people have no idea how to speak correctly so it is reflected in their writing. I hear your pain!

Answer 2

They teach grammar and attempt to drill it into our heads -- or at least they did when I was in school -- but unfortunately most of the American public believes that grammar and spelling is not important. Most often, if you point out a mistake to someone they will become annoyed because they think it is a waste of their time.

When I was teaching overseas, I attempted to help my students with both their spelling and grammar; this was made more difficult by the presence of English reading books which carry their own typographical errors. Why should a published book (especially a textbook!) have errors?? This is, unfortunately, the trend that our population seems to be following.

Answer 3

When they took the pladge out of schools and gave the kids more rights then parents we are all sunk thats why today there are some many kids messed up in the head cause they can get away with any thing all they got to do is hellow, DHS is the blame for most of our chirdlens problem cause u canrt even use open hand to slap there asses when they do wrong like in the old days when i was growoing up. the saying was spoil the child and spare the rod or strap across the butt never hurt any one

Answer 4

Although I can't speak for the schools in your area, grammar is certainly taught in school still, from first grade on to high school here. Those annoying mistakes and how to avoid them are even taught in some detail. Why then, do you see so many errors? Some people, unlike you, weren't paying attention when this was covered. So, to answer your question, grammar is being taught but not always learned.

Answer 5

You're right - they certainly should be teaching grammar. The problem rests in the fact that there is a significant movement AGAINST teaching grammar that has taken ahold of many public school districts. Allow me to explain:

There are basically three thoughts to teaching language arts (meaning reading, writing, and all that grammar "stuff"). One is called the top-down (wholistic) method, in which the students are basically immersed in reading and writing activities. This method believes that the key to success in language arts is in the exposure to examples of the correct usage of grammar and practice in using these usages. It assumes that if a student sees the word "you're" being used correctly time after time, he or she will build a natural understanding of when to use it in his or her own writing.

Similarly, there is the bottom-up method, which teaches students on a building, accumulating scale. This is where students are directly taught to sound-out words piece by piece, when to capitalize letters and use punctuation marks. It relies heavily on teacher instruction, and not student-made connections.

The third method is a mixture of the above two, and is, in my opinion, the smartest of the three methods.

Back to your question, there has been a recent shift in American educational philosophies that reflects the wholistic method of instruction. It's so severe in some parts of the country that I actually taught in a middle school whose English curriculum did not include grammar - just literature and writing. When 8th graders do not capitalize the letter "I" in term papers, you KNOW there's a problem.

Scary, eh?

Answer 6

Read the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss.
Perfect answers for your questions.
Your question has so many spelling mistakes, however, that I could not finish reading it.

Answer 7

Sure are. The question is are the students paying attention? I certainly did and it bothers me too that a lot of people can't write. But uh...did you proof your question before you wrote it? "Are our schools be teaching grammer?" Don't mean to sound anal but I rest my case...

Answer 8

my english class did last year.

but that's it.

Answer 9

my school has