I just wanted to forward this very entertaining article on grammar in the schools today. Some of the paragraphs are really incisive. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- The Report Newsmagazine www.report.ca Guest column: If we could of went to smarter schools, we wouldn't of spent so long learning to write proper 01-22-2001 Mariette Ulrich While writing the mandatory home-schooling plan for my children this fall, I perused our province's Language Arts curriculum on the Saskatchewan Education Web site. I wanted to know which grammatical principles they recommend at each grade level. Instead of itemized lists, I encountered the "Foundational and Learning Objectives": hundreds of cyberpages telling teachers how to teach good writing. Ironically, the document itself suffers a few deficiencies itself in the style department. Here's just a taste: "[The student will] enhance writing by using sensory details and descriptions,...engage the reader by using imaginative language that evokes visual images...[and] create story mood and atmosphere through effective description." In other words, teach students to use adjectives. "Brevity is the soul of wit," wrote the Bard, but this is a government document, so there's very little of either. The relatively short section on grammar contains warnings like: "While instruction may be required about some writing skills and knowledge, it...should not be broken into isolated sub-skills." By "isolated" they mean pupils learn a concept, write a few practice sentences that are unrelated to their place in the cosmo, and then go out for recess. The goal is to teach language skills "in the context of the students' own speaking, listening, writing, and reading experiences." This is done with "mini-lessons" on an "as-needed" basis. Some might call it a scatter-gun approach. I'm all for context teaching (I do it myself), but I fail to see how you'll cover all the bases if you don't use a systematic approach. The Saskatchewan curriculum seems unsure whether or not children need basic skills. Consider the following: "Students may find it useful to be able to name and know the purpose(s) of the following: period, exclamation mark, comma, semi-colon, colon, quotation marks, and capitalization." i'd say such study is crucial not just useful wouldn't you otherwise how would you know when one sentence ended and another began at least thats my opinion but then who am i i don't have a phd in education. Spelling, too, "is a developmental process and competence ... occurs over time." One school official assured me it's acceptable for kids to use "invented spelling" for years. But how many? I have a hunch the owner of Millenuim Carpet Cleaners in Regina is older than eight. (If he's not, I congratulate him on his budding entrepreneurial spirit.) Either way, he needs to learn to spell. While intensive study of grammar and usage has fallen into disfavour, political correctness is all the rage. One objective of the curriculum is to "demonstrate respect and sensitivity toward unique individual, gender, and cultural communication styles and perspectives," with an emphasis on "accept[ing] others' views in a nonjudgemental way." Students are to acquire not only knowledge and skills, but also certain "attitudes." Are we still in English class, or is this now Social Engineering 101? Group work is also advocated: "Although writing is a solitary activity for most writers, the social aspects of collaboration make writing groups appropriate." Yah, right. Just like everyone would rush out to buy the latest novel by the Margaret Atwood Quartet. Collaboration is another way of saying, "the cleverest and hardest- working students get lumped in with those who can't or won't do the work, and they all get the same grade." Apparently, process and attitude take precedence over content. I was actually told by a school official that the new curriculum is not "content-based." I asked my brother (the principal of a private school in Calgary) what that means. He said schools are moving to "resource-based" education. In a nutshell: don't teach them grammar; teach them where to find grammar. The Saskatchewan curriculum suggests: "Set up a section of the classroom as a writing reference area and make available language resources such as dictionaries, thesauri, and grammar and usage texts. Encourage students to use these as needed." If grammatical principles are tools for good writing (as the curriculum acknowledges), how wise is it to send forth graduates whose cranial toolchests contain at best only a random assortment of implements; at worst, an overdependence on reference materials? For too many students (and one is too many) the "resource centre" of choice is not the campus library, but the illicit Internet site that sells term papers to go. Maybe it's only a wild coincidence that kids who aren't taught grammar can't write. Then again, maybe not, since I was one of them. I studied grammar only to Grade 6, and laboured under the "if it sounds right, it might be right" approach in high school. By the time I entered university, I could barely write a paragraph, and I wasn't alone. Many of my English professors had to waste lecture time on remedial grammar after the first papers were handed in. I graduated with an honours degree in English literature, which is less a testimony to my competence than a criticism of Canadian standards. My fledgling efforts at professional writing garnered some humiliating comments from editors. Home-schooling came to my rescue; since teaching my own kids, I've learned more grammar than in 16 years of state-funded education. Learning grammar is hard work, but I know it pays. I may get on some blacklist for admitting this, but I'm sticking to my guns (all legally registered firearms, of course) and teaching my kids grammar. Systematically. I think they'll thank me someday. ----------------------------------------------------- Sincerely, Robert Einarsson please visit me at www.artsci.gmcc.ab.ca/people/einarssonb To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/