Why can't people spell correctly and form sentences anymore?

Question

Since the advent of internet discussions and chats, it seems that society's ability to correctly use the English language has become a thing of the past. Are schools still teaching English? Do students have language barriers? Are they lazy? Don't parents care that their child's ability to communicate directly affects their earning potential in the future?

Answer 1

The low salaries paid to teachers have prevented many very qualified people from entering the field. I was standing in line at the Post Office the other day, only to be horrified by the discussion between two teachers from my area school. These were the teachers talking to each other. It is hard to blame the kids when the teachers speak this way.

I'm not blaming mothers, but there is a direct correlation between the mothers at work (therefore not at home to help the kids with their homework) and the twenty-plus years decline in the SAT scores. The SAT scores can now no longer be compared between years by design.

We have to invest in education to compensate for the loss of educational help at home. We need kids in an educationally-supportive environment for more hour of more days. We need to compensate for the lack of educational support in many homes.

Look at the educational practices of other cultures in the world and you will see why we are losing the education game.

Look at the widening gap between rich and poor in this country. I will not discuss politics, but it can be no surprize that as the poor become poorer, education is not the highest priority in the house.

25 years ago, the average CEO earned 50 dollars for every dollar that a minimum wage earner earned. Today that number is 500 dollars. The CEO in my company earned 750 dollars last year for every dollar I earned. He did this while the stock price fell. It all related to what Reagan did in 1982, but I promised not to discuss politices.

Look at the kids in the school. They are much too fat. This effects their learning ability. Yet schools are forced to cut gym classes and include meals from corporate peddleres of empty calories.

Find a 1960's program and look the weight of the characters. You will be stunned at the difference in just 40 years. Compare that with the weight of the characters today. Compare Archie Bunker's age and weight with the age and weight of the guy from the "King of Queen's" or "Rozanne" etc... Archie actually looked like Twiggy next to these two. The comparison is amazing.

Go back to an old crowd shot of people at a sporting event from 40 years ago. Look at how much they weigh. Look at a random crowd photograph of a sporting event today. Compare the weight of the people.

Answer 2

As in all generations, there has been slang. With the advent of the internet, chats and such, the younger generation has invented newer forms of slang. Many of these younger folks may be using poor grammer, spelling, etc... while online and with their friends, but when it comes to formal papers, discussions in the classroom and such, many are often at the top of their class.

Are schools still teaching English? Yes, English and proper grammar are taught in school. I know, because I teach 3rd grade.

Do students have language barriers? Well since most of the 1300 students at the school I teach are English Language Learners (about 85%), I would say yes.

Are they lazy? Well of couse some are, but the internet is not a formal platform, especially when instant messaging. In fact, many of these kids are quite creative. When using the internet, it is only a written communication form, but with "words" such as "LOL" you can add emotions and have the other person formulate a picture in their mind of your feelings.

Do parents care that their child's ability to communicate directly affects their earning potential in the future? I am sure that some do care, but I do not think that parents are concerned about earning potential as much as the physical and mental health of their child, the education and the socialization and such. Parents want the best for their children of course, but poor spelling and grammar on the internet does not equate to a low earning potential.

BTW...I am not using spellcheck or grammar check, so pardon me if any of this is incorrect, as I will not be proofreading this. This, is also another reason for the mistakes that you see, but since you are not grading my writing and this is an informal setting, oh well!

Answer 3

The very first answer you received sounded very cute to me.

Let's say, we ar all a part of "Answers Anonymous". I am not making fun of anyone but just trying to understand why the young don't spell and write the way we do.

I think SMS has a lot to do with the shortening of the words. In these messages they ignore all the rules of grammer that we learned in school. Some of the words sound like the the way we used them in business when telegrams and in telex messages were popular. I have a dictionary of telex words which is stowed away with many old books that I no longer need.

The positive side of the way young people spell is that they keep in touch with their friends through cell phone messages. This is a non-intrusive way. Nobody likes to receive phone calls at all odd hours.

I plan to buy a new cell phone with a querty keyboard because the time is coming when we will be exchanging E-mails with wireless technology.

Every Christmas we are flooded with cards but there is one exception. Only one friend writes to us a 4-gage letter from St Albans, England. Her writinng is beautiful and the letter is full of her family news.

Today, I picked up a beautifully illustrated booklet on industrial accidents which my wife edited for a UN organization. It is such a dry subject that nobody would be interested in it. But it's layout is so neat and the language is so easy to understand that I do not want to part with it.

I believe that if any of our colleagues in "Answers Anonynmous" gets a lucrative a job abroad, which demands a good mastery of contemporary English, he/she will measure up to it. I wouldn't worry about it.

I fully understand your feelings about the way English is goinng. If you visit the following Web site of David Pogue and read his article, "Whatever Happened to Online Etiquette?", you will see how many more people think the way you do.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/14pogue-email-2/?mkt=techlink1

My answer is not what you may be looking for, but this the way I look at your question.

Answer 4

I agree that seeing improper spelling and grammar is very annoying. When I was a supervisor I ALWAYS insisted that my employees use proper English in their e-mail communications and not revert to online slang or short forms.

However, I don't necessarily think it's just a problem with this generation. I think we just see it so much more now that so many people are communicating online.

Pre-internet, we didn't see people's spelling and grammar nearly so much as we do, since the majority of internet communication is written.

Answer 5

basically in case any k12 homies are nonetheless looking.. those are my solutions and that i've got been given a B theres an X in front of those i've got been given incorrect a million-is they waiting for the sport to start? ---are X 2-mookie, who should be between the neatest blah blah --does x 3 the two jeff or carol have an added pair of skates --have 4none persons is going into the city --is going 5here are various the library books --C 6 the two roger and maria take drivers ed --take 7both of the applicants debates for mayor on the close by get right of entry to channel --debate x 8 replaced into each and every physique on the team redy to pass --have been 9some of the e book seem interestin --seems 10the wrenches --do no longer 11-tale of two cities 12-a 0.5 of a grapfruit 13-lots of my acquaintances interior the 14-are you and gordon 15-no flour and sugar 16two timber replaced into 17ther have been various 18DOESNT he have something 19this afternoon the team HAVE 20-IS the 1st ingredient 21 fifty follars IS 22DEALS 23WERE 24 HAVE X 25HAVE I have been given a sixty 3/75-B

Answer 6

Sadly blame the education system in the US. I have notices this myself. How ever kids on this don’t know how to spell, never mind putting a sentence together. I have even notices they put the comas in the wrong places. Some blame mobile phones for this. But I don’t really believe this. I just think that teachers are rather slack in teaching basics grammar and spelling.

Answer 7

Society, Peers, Lack of Education - I have seen it all. English is taught but grammer and liturature are not as much. We have people that are coming from other countries that are just learning the English language themselves, then to see how some people talk on the internet. Lifestyles have changed how we talk, read, and write these days. Somewhere society needs to put a greater push on English and Liturature or when my children are old enough, computers will be flipping burgers for them and there will be no jobs.

Answer 8

Some people think that using proper english online is incorrect. My computer experience came to me in a professional setting, so i am used to using proper grammar and punctuation (for the most part). Maybe it depends on where/when you are taught to use a computer. Students are extremely lazy. No, most parents do not care that their child's ability to communicate directly affects their earning potential in the future. Most parents are too busy at work to care about raising their kids properly. That's why we have all the daycares.

Answer 9

Daily life is great but a writing job is not often a excellent planet. As with any job, (both on the web and off) they all have their share of thorns but if you really want to be productive in this task then you need to turn out to be a member of Real Writing Jobs right here https://tr.im/rvZa1 .
Real Writing Jobs supply you with a wonderful deal of writing for pay leads so if you want to save by yourself sometime of doing the analysis operate oneself of obtaining respectable operate from residence writing prospects, than Real Writing Jobs is ideal, handy solution for landing some excellent writing prospects.
In addition, with Real Writing Jobs you could have a search at the operate from house creating options page. There are new leads added on a regular basis.
To your writing achievement!

Answer 10

It does seem that there are a lot who do not know grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I noticed the difference in the way my daughters were being taught as to how I was taught. The one main problem is allowing a child to spell the words the way they sound to them. They are also not being corrected by teachers who teach other subjects other than english and grammar. Most think it is not harmful to them to not be able to spell. They will spend their employment days doing something that will not require much education such as working in fast food places. They will not be able to do well in college because of not knowing how to spell, use proper grammar, and punctuation writing term papers.