illiterateness - cause for concern?

Question

Places like Yahoo Answers and other general forums really expose the magnitude of complete illiterateness in today's youth. What's going wrong in the schools and does it concern you as much as it does me?

To those of you doubting my use of the word 'illiterateness' - type it in at dictionary.com and see for yourselves.

Answer 1

It is a serious problem, and, as others have said, the teachers are a large part of that problem, not the solution that they should be.

My grandson brought home a handout from his Language Arts class (see - they don't even hide that they're not teaching English). It was rife with spelling and punctuation errors, total lack of parallelism, and incomprehensible composition. My favorite part was the paragraph that contained three references to missed work - once it was "makeup", then "make up", and just to cover all bases "make-up". A very close second was a statement that the teacher expected common curtsey. At first I thought she wanted them to bow to her - then I realized she messed up "courtesy" so badly the spellchecker never missed a beat.

Did a proofreading job and sent to the Superintendent of Schools. Never got a response.

P. S. To those of you questioning the word "illiterateness", I would suggest a good, unabridged dictionary.

Answer 2

Funny to use illiterateness when illiteracy already does a perfectly good job, but what the heck. Anyway, as I'm sure I've said before, humans are conditioned to judge based on what they see. Poor spelling is often associated (rightly or wrongly) with poor education, carelessness and laziness, so, given no other way to judge someone, if all a reader sees are many mis-spelt words, then these may be taken as a direct reflection on the author.

But to now play devil's advocate. This is the internet. The way a person writes here is likely to be stratospherically different to the way they write on an application form, or an assignment for a Professor, or a legal statement for a Board of Directors. In this domain, people are likely to adopt a fairly informal, casual style in just the way you would adopt a more informal, casual speech-style with your friends. If I only ever heard you speak casually with your friends, however, I would not assume that this is exactly the same way you would speak in every circumstance. I would give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you to be perfectly capable of altering your style to fit the situation.

Answer 3

We are assuming that it is only the young people, but yes, the standard of literacy is appalling. What's more, it has been deteriorating steadily for so long that it has almost reached the point of no return, as young teachers have gone through the system without being able to spell and with scant respect for grammar and therefore are in no position to remedy the situation even if suddenly the authorities sit up and tell us that it is something which must be addressed. Even if I had not enjoyed the benefit of a very good education, I would have been able to learn a great deal at home from highly literate parents (interestingly enough, a number of my friends have home schooled their childen with impressive results), but that is not usually an option for today's youngsters. When will anyone care enough to do anything about it all?

Answer 4

Actually, it's the same in France. If you read through Y! Answers, you'll see plenty of mistakes. Ok, when you're still in middle-school, I can understand. But otherwise... The worst is, I think, people who can't structure a sentence properly. And when you actually try to correct them, they get all angry at you! I'm trying to help, right! Anyway.

Once, in an editorial, the editor wrote about that problem. He concluded by saying that, anyway, those who will be able to get important jobs are those who can write a sentence properly, and who have a good vocabulary. He wasn't saying that it's good; he was merely explaining why the governments don't really care about that! After all, in a democracy, it's easier to control people who don't have a good education. It's all linked.

Answer 5

Ah, the beauty of the self-referential (albeit unintentional) post!

The word is actually 'illiteracy'.

Of course, it's cause for concern! The worst thing to happen to literacy in recent years is spelling and grammar checkers. It is possible (I've done it) to write a three-page Word document that is total gibberish, and passes both spell and grammar checkers.

I think children should be forced to learn to spell, punctuate, and demonstrate a sound grasp of grammar, before they are permitted to use computers to write papers for school on computers or word-processors.

To be fair, spelling comes very easily to me, in any language. Perhaps I am being too harsh. And, to be fair, most English teachers, teaching native English speakers, haven't the first idea how to teach spelling, because the 'Rules' do not apply. English is a frightful language to learn to spell. Foreigners generally do it better than native speakers, because they actually had to learn it.

I strongly dislike text-message style postings (e.g. Cn u tell me wat 2 do?), and I think this shorthand is contributing to the problem, as well.

Here's a contribution I once made, to the cause of literacy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A586640.
Hope it helps a few people with their aposophe issues. That's my personal pet peeve.

Answer 6

OK Billy , so you made a spelling mistake...we all do it from time to time. But , basically, you are right . The standards on here are appalling. If you complain or bring it to the fore you are accused of being picky. Those that defend bad spelling, grammar and punctuation always tell you it is more important to express oneself, but how the hell can you express yourself if you can't even construct simple sentences? We all make mistakes, but some of the contributions on here are truly horrendous and make you wonder what the hell the schools are doing or what the pupils in the schools are doing.

Answer 7

What makes you think it's confined to today's youth? Many of the teachers in class are little better than their pupils when it comes to literacy!
Remember that computer spell-checks are notoriously bad for encouraging bad punctuation and grammar.
Telephone texting also contributes to horrendous written English.
Think about the lack of book-reading in schools and homes.
Come back, Shakespeare. All is forgiven...

Answer 8

I am afraid this is true, I try wherever possible to post witty answers for those with a degree of intellect, I think on the majority it is wasted

Questions with appalling spelling mistakes drive me mad, I understand that we are all typing and sometimes quickly so the odd error is certainly forgivable. However the standard of English is very worrying

Answer 9

I'm more concerned about illiteracy to be honest fool! And it doesn't matter whether it's in dictionary.com the internet isn't always right you know ddddduuuuuuhhhhh!

Answer 10

I don't think that it's to do with being illiterate but more typing errors where people type quickley -is illiterateness actually a word?