I teach both English As A Second Language grammar and college
reading and writing courses, and I have many of my former ESL students
coming back telling me that many of their college level instructors do
not know basic English grammar rules, and that they are being confused
by those instructors.  Not only this, but they are discovering a
majority of their fellow English speaking students do not understand the
grammar of English. My ESL students are finding they have a better grasp
of basic English grammar.
        One successful "sales pitch" I give both my native English
speaking students and my ESL students in their grammar and writing
courses (where I include a great amount of basic grammar instruction)
concerns their use of the Internet and how their initial 'appearance'
(the impressions others gather) on the Internet is quite often based on
their successful use of proper grammar in their writings read by 'the
world.' The Internet is, as is the world of aviation communication,
evolving nearly completely in English. Our ESL enrollments are soaring
because of this. This gets their attention, and they seem to groan less
at grammar instruction. (My native English speakers are horrified to
discover they know less of their own language's rules than their second
language counterparts!)
        Before I began teaching some eight years ago, I was an officer
in the United States Army. A few years before I retired, I began to
detect a noticeable deterioration in the quality of writing my young
officers were capable of producing. To be kind, their grammar was
deplorable. Now, I am also finding that the newer/younger students are
arriving with those poor grammar skills, and I find fewer and fewer
students devote much time at all to reading (in my opinion, perhaps THE
key to good grammar) - any reading, from newspapers to books. They are
basically non-readers who feel reading is a waste of time, and, even
worse, boring! They can sometimes just about make me weep with their
indifference to reading - I also want to weep when I poll the classes to
see who was read to as a child (where they would have been early exposed
to proper grammar) and find the number usually zero.
        Forgive my bias, but I admire and salute all who struggle, and
it is a struggle, to teach English grammar at any level, and I urge
you/us on! In our growing global society's future competitions, you/we
are vital. Gordon Rives Carmichael, Developmental Studies, English As A
Second Language, University of Central Texas and Central Texas College,
Texas University System