Who is to blame?

Question

Does anyone else despair when they see the level of English on display on these web pages. It takes an hour just to decipher some of the questions. Where does the blame lie?

Answer 1

I halve a spelling checker,
It came with my pea see.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I dew knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait aweigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the era rite
Its rarely ever wrong.
I've scent this massage threw it,
And I'm shore your pleased too no
Its letter prefect in every weigh;
My checker tolled me sew.

Answer 2

I am disappointed, but I don't despair... To answer your question, I think it's a combination of these reasons:

Poor educational systems which encourages conformance rather than intellecutual curiosity, although the opposite is often claimed -
Entertainment systems that encourages immediate gratification with little intellecutal nor physical activity through visual stimulation instead of interpretation of literary works requiring extended thought-
Few opportunities to produce and have direct/immediate response to written/spoken language errors.
Advertising's deliberate misuse of language, and -
Finally, peoples deliberate misuse of language when it represents their "rebellion" against authority systems.

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Computers are available for everybody - literate, semi-literate, or illiterate. For better or worse, even the semi-literate want to express themselves which is fine.

I teach English as a Second Language and there is always a type of internal conflict I have in almost every class as just how much I should correct them. It comes from two general directions...
The first is that English has no "standard" - that is, it changes over time and so does grammar, spelling - all of it. Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive - although most think the opposite. If more people start spelling "people" as "peeple", the dictionary will eventually reflect that, whether "correct" or not. The second is that if corrections are made too often in class, rejection is the result. ESL teachers 'put words in people's mouths' in a literal sense, and done too often, it can discourage learning even if the information should be to their benefit - and that is a balance I have to make almost every day.

Answer 3

A lot of the blame lies with the new 'text speak', with teenagers reverting to it as an abbreviated form of communication at every opportunity, regardless of whether it's appropriate or not.

The falling standards in respect to English language, however, lies primarily at the feet of parents who, for whatever reason, seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that their children should be taught to read and write solely at school, with their input limited to reading the weekly school book that is sent home.

That said, the increasing trend towards 'average is good enough' in our education system needs to be addressed, with teachers being allowed to teach and develop their students to their individual best as opposed to training them merely to pass certain educational milestones which offer little or no indication as to their actual level of ability.

The reality of our society dictates that, despite how much we might like it to be otherwise, there will always be those who are more adept academically than others, and that to 'hold back' a bright child is equally as damaging to them long term as dismissing a less able child.

We parents need to take a long hard look at ourselves and decide whether we are doing the best by our children educationally and act accordingly-whether that means asking for more help or for further development.

We would all do well to remember that there is still a place in our society for a well phrased letter or e-mail, the pen IS mightier than the sword and immeasurably more effective than an abusive phone call when dealing with a complaint.

Answer 4

I agree with you but there are certain users of this site who feel that it isn't essential to have good grammar, spelling and punctuation in order to ask a question, and they get upset with those who criticise them.
Then there are those who spend their time hunting through questions to find poorly written ones in order to criticise!
I think the blame partly lies with mobile phones and SMS text speech. It's impossible to write a message in proper English with the amount of characters you are allowed per message.
There was even a case on the news a year or so back about a girl who failed her English GCSE as she wrote her entire answer in text language!
I find it difficult to say that schools are to blame when primary schools spend at least one hour a day on "literacy" - maybe the problem comes when pupils transfer to high school and the emphasis in English is on studying novels, texts, etc, rather than drilling home the rules of grammar and punctuation? And as for spelling - as that amusing poem from Lulu shows, a spell checker is only any good if you understand the context of the word you want (eg you're and your, their, there and they're).
The trouble with society today is that amongst youngsters, under-achieving is seen as cool, and so we have a generation of adults who don't understand the basics of our language.
To follow on from that problem, it's no wonder the Brits are seen as a nation who won't learn a foreign language - what chance do you have of learning the imperfect tense or subjunctive in French if you don't understand it in English?

Ali Roper - no thumbs down from me! You are spot on.

Answer 5

I think it is the education system, my parents used to correct my pronunciation and dialect, but I relied on school and books to become literate.
Youngsters now don't seem to read, TV and computers are more interesting.
There is also a laziness and this texting culture, although the latter is probably not so bad
I know a 17 year old who spells "anything" as "anythink" exactly as she says it, and the poor grammar is really abysmal especially when you see "you are" written as "your".
However, I don't suppose that the illiterate and inarticulate will bother answering this question

Answer 6

What a can of worms to open but hey I'm gonna answer anyway

Back in my school days (when the years were 1-5) we all had to wear uniform or we got detention and a letter to our folks and boy did you not want that to happen! Standards and education I feel is not the same as it used to be.

I suppose it is the fault of life in general as we progress (??) - we are all too quick to blame the government but I think that parents should take a responsibility too. I'm nearly 40 but my parents still enforce discipline on me and my sisters and now their grandchildren. It does work (without the beatings) and we all love and respect them.

Basically, if you want your kids to talk properly/correctly then it is down to you as a parent to make time for them to educate them accordingly for the standards you were educated to.

I wonder how many thumbs down I will get for this ???

Answer 7

With no one really.....each one is free to ask and answer a question it the best way he or she can. One might be trying to improve their knowledge , we must not blame anyone just because they aren't good in English. Let it pass :-)

Answer 8

The blame lies with us all. We have allowed our Representatives to our youth, to get away with flawed and pro fen misuse and misconduct, with our children's education.We do not hold public officials accountable, neither personally or fiscally. We treat them like cooperate executives and give them huge bonuses even when they have been proven to be incompetent.

Answer 9

Ken Barlow - absolutely crap English Teacher and step father to the murderous Tracy. Need I say more?

Answer 10

i'm afraid that i am a lazy typist and not the best with my punctuation but i have probs reading some of the questions and answers......may be an age thing in my case..lol