I couldn't agree MORE!!!!! The appreciation and
respect for Standard English (the language of the
world!) has faded, and the ball has totally been
dropped in the elementary and middle school. Kids are
not armed with basic language knowledge -- the
fundamentals, so they have a very weak foundation on
which to build their spoken and written standard
English language skills. We need to revive the
necessity for teaching and respect of Standard
English. We owe it to our kids.
--- Nancy Downard <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> As an 8th grade writing teacher, I thought I'd give
> my 2 cents worth on this
> very interesting topic. I'm going to begin with my
> own education, and then
> continue with that of my students.
>
> I recall being a middle school student, having to
> disect sentences and draw
> vertical lines between subject and predicate, label
> subjects, verbs, do's,
> io's, prep and objects, and so on and so forth. I
> learned to do a passable job
> deciphering this cryptic information, but it wasn't
> something that I truly was
> able to master. Once I entered high school, the
> study of english grammar was a
> thing of the past. You were to master it before
> grade 9, and then use your
> mastered grammar through you high school days. As
> an undergraduate student in
> the late 80s (in english literature), I at no point
> in time had to every
> complete a course on the history of the english
> language, linguistics or grammar.
> NEVER, yet I was considered competant in my field,
> and given a Bachelor of
> Arts. Seven years later, I decide to become a
> teacher, and FINALLY, the english
> language is given some attention. I realized what I
> missed in my earlier
> education, and was introduced to the language that I
> use every day in speech and
> writing. I gained knowledge of how it came to be
> and why it came to be that
> way. I took my history of english lang.,
> journalistic grammar, linguistics
> courses, yet am still FAR from being an expert in
> the field. I find that there
> are still many things I must look up to see if I am
> correct. However, I'm also
> aware that our english language is this ever
> evolving creature, and that to
> truly understand it, we must acknowledge this change
> (a change that rankles me
> from time to time).
>
> Anyhow, so now I teach 8th graders. The education
> hasn't changed so much in
> that once students leave 8th grade, they are
> supposed to have 'mastered'
> grammar. However, in teaching 6th grade last year
> and 8th grade today, somehow,
> somewhere, somebody is dropping the ball, because
> these kids don't have a clue
> about what makes their language tick. They rebel
> against grammar in almost
> everything they do, and fight me to write it 'their
> way,' instead of the 'proper
> way.' My students clain that learning grammar is
> stupid, and that's there's
> no real reason to learn it. Other than explaining
> that this is THEIR language,
> the one that they rely on for both verbal and
> written expression, and they
> they should understand how it works backwards,
> forwards and inside out, how do
> you respond? How do you respond to 14 year olds
> that feel everything is lame,
> to try to instill in them, the importance of their
> native language?
>
> "You understand what I mean," is a comment I hear
> after commenting on essays
> that lack focus on grammar. Incomplete sentences,
> missing punctuation, lack
> of organization, and horrific spelling (it's not
> even phonemic!) are what
> plague 8th grade students in what is supposed to be
> one of the strongest counties
> in the state of Georgia. My students exasperate me
> with their essays written
> like they're typing an instant message, and they
> don't understand why I get so
> worked up about "it wuz a kewl time 4 me and he."
>
> I wonder, is this where we're heading? Ten,
> fifteen, twenty years down the
> road, will we be speaking in short, staccato like
> sentences, that lack
> formality? Will the written language become
> obsolete as we know it, with slang and
> abbreviations from instant messaging taking over?
>
> So I ramble on and on and on. Just some comments
> from the trenches after
> spending the day with 150 rebels against the english
> language.
>
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>
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