A question for seniors on Yahoo.?

Question

Is it me, or are the younger posters on this site really bad at spelling and proper grammar? What are the reasons for this? I have my own opinions on the matter.

To Fuchsdis: I left school at 15 years old and was ill for a long time with rheumatic fever and I have a heart murmur as a result. I got myself an education in my 30s and 40s.I asked the question because I worry about my own grandchildren and their dependence on texting and emails.

To Jim K: I am an older person myself. As I said previously, I left school at 15 years old, without qualifications. I am now well educated through my own self-determination. I have as much right to be on this site as you do.

To Fuchsdis: I am actually saying the opposite of what you imply. I am suggesting that seniors are much better spellers than the young and that almost certainly includes you. I am also a senior myself. Sorry about your ill health and sorry you got so vexed with me.

Answer 1

I have two views - yes, younger posters on this site are getting worse at spelling and grammar (I am a child of the early 1960s grammar school where we were taught English and parsing and grammar and syntax etc) but I think I also have to allow for the fact that there has been a really serious decline in these areas over the past 40 years. My own children have perfect skills in English, but that is only because I taught them those things at home. They certainly wouldn't have learnt them at school. I remember one English teacher at my son's school who corrected him on his spelling of 'embarrassed' and I had to write to him to say that in fact my son had spelled the word correctly! I now almost despair when I see CVs, covering letters, etc - the spelling is atrocious (despite spellcheck), the grammar is all over the place, and as for punctuation ... forget it! It doesn't make me angry, it makes me sad, because young people nowadays are having their chances of getting a good job jeopardised by English teachers who think that it doesn't matter how you spell, it's how you express yourself. Well, I know that employers still want young people to have good English skills (at least). Believe it or not, I still have students coming to my house who are in the first and second years of UNIVERSITY studies, and they still have trouble spelling, and putting a proper sentence together.

Answer 2

I don't think schools are teaching the basics well enough. They pass kids into the next grades whether they can read, write, spell, or do math well enough. Kids are not made to learn. Parents are to busy trying to make a living to stand over them and make them do that homework,quiz them on that test coming up. Meanwhile the kids are on the computer or out with friends and playing video games. The poor kids can't make change at the fast food places they work at. I see the poor grammar and spelling in Ya. Our teachers are not held accountable. So many cannot pass the competency tests yet the teachers union is so strong the teachers are kept on the payroll. I have two 15 yr. old granddaughters and I know what their schools are like. I love them to death, but they are so far behind where we (seniors) were at that age. Geography and history is a joke.

Answer 3

And well you should be. Education is not what it is cracked up to be today because the kids will not mind the teachers and the teachers have little or not control over a classroom of noisy kids. So where is there time for learning - assuming that the kids in class have the ability to learn. A lot of todays students have not been taught correctly and many are unable to learn because of some physical or mental defect - no fault of their own. So care for your grand kids and help them as much as you can with their homework, and anything else that is educational as well as interesting to them. GOOD LUCK!

Answer 4

The education system leaves a great deal to be desired.
Adult learning centres are visible in every Town as there are thousands of school leavers unable to read and write, as well as adults who have slipped through the system.
I could read before I started school, aged 4, because my Mother taught me, and I still love reading now.
I think many Teachers today are rubbish and Parents couldn't care less as long as the Children are not under their feet.

Answer 5

Sometimes bad spelling is a result of a typing error. Spell check is not always as helpful as it might be for people like me who spell badly. I do find that on here I make errors I would not make usually. there their where were wear to name two I always get wrong on this. I am in fact 66 years of age and have spent a lifetime trying to spell correctly, my grammar has deteriorated over the years I think through lack of practice

Answer 6

I am a pensioner, and what the Americans forget is we seniors grew up in the uk when a war was going on. 1939 -1945 and some schools were there one day and gone the next. We were all on ration books, and lucky
if you got one egg a week, people were getting bombed out of there homes. Young ones in America don't know the half of it,
and they havent a clue what we went through. America didn't come into the war till
42, so cherrypicker some of us who lived through it are lucky to be alive, never mind well educated, so go and bother another site and leave the pensioners alone.
And I so agree with Sally who are you anyway.

Answer 7

I've noticed that too. It seems like the kids get a lot of homework, but not a lot of it is the English language. My first instinct is to correct the spelling or grammar, but somehow I
dont think it would do any good. Maybe they need a spellcheck chip inserted in their brains.

Answer 8

The teachers are to busy testing for no child left behind they don't have time for spelling and grammar. It's more about the math and comprehension then anything. There is no such thing as a well rounded education anymore.

Answer 9

I think the way I was disciplined in school in the 1950's & 60's, helped to program by brain to have correct spelling burned into it on a permanent foundation. Endless hours of writing repetitive sentences that fit the crime I had commited during school hours & the teaching styles were designed to make sure that none of us left one grade until we could pass those tests with flying colors. We feared our parents worse than we feared our teachers, so we stayed after class until we got it right if we wanted to go to the next level with our classmates. No one wanted to be kept behind or made fun of for being a "retard". That's what we all called the kids in speech class & the ones who had to repeat a grade...retards & rejects. We were mean, but it seemed to work! Back then, most people only wanted results & they didn't care how the children felt about anything. We did what we were told to do...or else! Maybe that's why so many of us revolted in the 60's!

Answer 10

I know it is not important in most cases to get the spelling right but I do like to try as I think it looks better and is an indication of how much importance you are placing on what you are writing