>Paul,
>
>I know exactly where you are coming from.  I was there.  I taught high
>school grammar for 8 years, and I had the same frustrations that you are
>voicing.  You are exactly right about the solution: a simplified,
>comprehensive, systematic grammar that starts at the beginning of the
>student's formal education.  That is exactly what has been rejected by the
>contemporary language arts "establishment," chanting the worn-out mantra,
>"It doesn't improve writing."  We insist on students learning math in a
>systematic way.  We could all just count on our fingers instead of learning
>terms such as add, subtract, multiply, and divide.  But it wouldn't make
>sense and many students would never get past 10 (or 20 in tropical
>climates).  By denying students the study of systematic grammar, we are
>abandoning them at 20.
>
>In regard to the "simplicity" of the verb, that is relative to the
>complexity of the verb as it was taught in traditional grammar.  It is
>little wonder that only a few came away from those lessons with
>understanding.  With a more descriptive approach, using fewer terms and
>whatever knowledge the students bring with them, added to an early start to
>the process and a continuous cycling of the material from level to level, it
>doesn't have to be difficult.  I'm sending new teachers into the elementary
>schools who are armed and indoctrinated to do just that.  I hope a lot of
>other colleges will do the same.  Perhaps, we can turn this difficult
>situation around.


Grammar was bounced out of the curriculum because of abundant research
showing that the study of grammar had no useful effect on writing skills.
To put grammar back into the curriculum will require not only developing a
more accurate, teachable and learnable system of simplified grammar but
also conducting research showing that the new grammar does something useful
for students. The research will have to be quantitative and of sufficient
validity to be published in refereed journals.

In my opinion, nothing less will do the trick. It's too bad that we don't
seem to have ATEG members from research universities who might have the
time, money, and necessity for doing the needed research.

Even in the unlikely eventuality that these conditions could be met,
grammar would still have to fight its way into the curriculum against a
tide of new material being added because of the new standards and tests.

Bill

William J. McCleary
3247 Bronson Hill Road
Livonia, NY 14487
716-346-6859