What can we do about our educational system to remedy our inability to use correct grammar and spelling? OR?

Question

Is the problem more general - is the societal vernacular to blame?
Does "chatspeak" represent the future of the English language?

Great answers. I didn't even think to ask whether poor grammar/spelling is a problem in the first place. That is an interesting thread. pirhaps fonetik speling iz a beter wae to maek et ae lojikal lerning prosses. Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Carnegie, among others, apparently advocated a phonetic lexicon. More thoughts?

Answer 1

I am learning to care less about how well someone spells...I am learning to look beyond that to the message itself. Don't judge books by their covers. Think Stephen Hawking for a moment. First look - he's helpless. In reality? He's accomplished more in his life than all of us. That said, let's get down to brass tacks here on where the REAL problems in education are.

For starters, Congress could actually pony up the money for all the billion dollar requirements they impose on schools (which, last I checked, are non-profit organizations incapable of raising billions on thier own).

Then we need to examine the current political practice of kicking teachers under the bus...making them scapegoats for flawed policy. Sure, there's a rotten apple in every bushel, and teacher accountability is important to identify them. However, this band-aid solution addresses one part of the child's educational support system, and it's akin to treating a broken leg with an ice pack.

What should we do? We could ask PARENTS to start taking some accountability for their childrens' education. If a kid's parents don't show THEY care enough to make time for his/her education, then why would the KID feel it is important????

I taught in a city school this past year. I had Parent Night for my class. 25 kids and only 2 had parents who bothered to show up. One parent was a no-show for parent conferences. She didn't care her son was receiving Fs, not turning in work, and disrupting his own learning as well as that of others...but the second her son didn't like his new seat in my new seating chart, she was in the very next day, first thing in the morning and comes in the room to speak to me about it as I'm trying to teach a lesson. Then there's the mom who was taken to court because her son was late or tardy 98 times. One of those days, he was spotted smoking outside of a crack house. He's in FIFTH GRADE.

It all starts with parents, as they are the single most important influence on a child's life. Without them, the CHILD cannot effectively be taught personal accountability. This effort begins with parents, but it is also a societal issue...everyone blames everyone else these days. Worse, children are protected from themselves and no longer allowed to admit and learn from their failures. No striking out in Little League. No Child Left Behind (even if the kid doesn't do a THING all year). Competition is bad. These messages we are installing in our childrens' minds are doomed to fail them when they enter the dog-eat-dog real world.

Today's sign of the educational apocalypse is that it's no longer acceptable to fail and learn from your mistakes, which history teaches us time and again is the best...and often only...way to learn. Hopefully we kin get it write befour it's two lait.

Answer 2

I personally would hate to see the English language turn to chatspeak. I think proper grammar and spelling demonstrate that one has received a proper education. Plus, having mastery of the language (notice I avoided saying "being fluent in the language" because most people with horrible grammar still consider themselves fluent) allows for clearer expression and makes it easier to communicate your thoughts and feelings to another.

Sea Bass brought up a very important point, and that is for parents to show that their child's education is actually important to them. Education is not something to be taken lightly and, while this may stir up some bad blood towards me, I think any parent who is not actively involved in their child's education and their child's life in general does not deserve to be the parent of a child. We see more and more people these days (especially me, being a college student, I'm around these people all the time) who are arrogant, rude, and disrespectful. It is my every belief that the majority of this problem stems from bad parenting.

Another answer would be to have a universal English curriculum that stresses grammatical correctness more than in-depth reading.

This last suggestion will be very extreme and is not likely to ever happen, but a sure solution would be to have students take an exam much like an Exit Exam (CAHSEE in California) that includes a heavy grammar section. If a student tests below the quota for any section, be it math, english, science or anything else, that student is held in their current grade until he or she passes.

Answer 3

There is no such thing as correct grammar or spelling. There is only what is or is not acceptable. Grammar or spelling is not like math where there is a correct answer. Chat speak just might be the future of language. After all language is just made up sounds and letters that are given meaning by the users. When was the last time some one said "ye" or made a "S" that looked like a "f"

Answer 4

LOL What an Idiot. Why worry about how people spell or there grammar. Numb skull. There must be 10,000 people ask the same stupid question. Why don't you Know it alls get a life and quit worring about ever little thing like spelling. LOL man what a loser!!!!

Answer 5

I certainly hope not. Spelling, grammar and handwriting should not become "lost arts" to the lazy, informal chatspeak.