BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Idiocracy

<rant mode on>

The thing is, I work FOR the school system I was taught in. Ok, I am behind the scenes, making sure everyone can get their email and stay connected to the Internet, so I do not have day to day contact with students and teachers anymore. But when I graduated from HS in 1985, I was taught how to do one thing that is not taught nowadays: Perform *critical thinking*. Don't think for yourself, don't just accept what you are told, but to analyze it for yourself. (At least in the advanced English/Calculus/Physics/Chemistry/History classes I took). It is a bit fuzzy, but I remember having intelligent discussions in American/Va State History. I did well in doing proofs in AP Calculus as a senior -- forcing analytical thinking. I remember having discussions about Watergate and the Nixon stuff in American History (at the time, just 10 years in the past). Most students today don't even know what that *is*, much less the finer points of it (if it weren't for movies).

Nowadays, everything is "teach to the test." Every student has to take SOL tests every few years to ensure they are maintaining minimum comprehension levels. (SOL = Standards of Learning -- and yes, I know what the "other" meaning of SOL is. ) I am aware of the SOL testing, because when they are going on and being taken online, NOTHING ELSE takes priority over making sure that network connections/servers stay online for those students taking the tests. Absolutely NOTHING.

I guess I am glad I got out of the school system as a student before things got dumbed down.

I write the way I do, with the occasional typo or subject/verb tense mismatch, but I NEVER write online in 'text speak'. I think it is disrespectful. The way I see it, I write in a style wherein if a future employer saw how I write and compose myself with my writings online, he/she would NOT be embarrassed or confused to comprehend the grammar of what I was writing. And I can write without having to rely on a spell checker (except for the most confusing of words). I do not have to do many formal memos, emails, etc in my position that get passed around to a lot of other people, but the ones that I do write are in standard, proper written English, using proper grammar, punctuation, complete sentences, and sentence structure.

Going online, in general, and reading what young people write, and the style they write in, makes me sad to think that these people are the future of our society. Maybe that is another reason why I like it in here. Messages here are nice and easy to read. Go elsewhere on the net and... you takes your chances.

</rant>

Duane_Va, my thoughts exactly. I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s and graduated from high school in 1996. I feel like I just missed the switch to the focus on standardized testing/only teaching to the test. Sure, we had standardized tests every few years in school growing up, but they were just one of the many things we did, and our teachers never focused lesson plans on teaching us what to know to pass those tests. We used what we learned in our classes to take and pass those tests, but we were taught to think for ourselves and use critical analysis. We were offered AP and honors classes so that we could learn subject matter that expanded on the general curriculum, etc.

It really gets on my nerves when I see improper spelling/grammar all the time, not only on the Internet, but also in my daily work life! Being in IT also, it's not necessarily the most important part of my job to know proper grammar/spelling, but I do send out mass e-mails to our users when they need to be notified of something, as well as to our IT staff from time to time, and you better believe that I make sure every word, sentence, and piece of punctuation is in its place. It just doesn't look professional otherwise. It amazes me how many people will send an e-mail without even bothering to check for typos. Spellcheck is built into e-mail programs anyway!

My DH is a teacher - he teaches music, but he still gets annoyed with the general state of education today. The "no child left behind" [censored] is actually leaving a lot of children behind, and the worst part is, the children are really no longer learning a whole lot in school. It is up to the more inquisitive, intelligent children to read/learn on their own, since schools focus mainly on tests now.

Don't get me wrong. I use spell-check as well. Most of the time, if a typo is highlighted, I already KNOW I made a typo, and it is usually easier to right-click and select the right spelling than it is to cursor back and fix it. But, 99% of the time, I KNOW I made the mistake, and I know what the typo IS, and I learn from such things.

Yes, we had achievement-style tests very few years, but your advancement to further grade levels/ability to graduate from HS did not DEPEND on you doing well on these tests. These tests being given today are literally make or break for graduating from MS to HS, or graduating from HS.

The phrase I loathe to hear is NCLB. Not being "in" the educational community, I don't have to deal with the direct impacts of it, but NCLB (No Child Left Behind) mean to me: Penalize the people who want to achieve and fly higher by boring them to death, while everyone slows down the learning processes to the truly least common denominator. Yes, I know that there will be students to excel in their own studies.

I remember when I was in HS (oh so many years ago) there were the groups. The College Prep kids, those who took AP this, Advanced that, College level English, Chemistry, etc. The "computer nerd" groups were just starting to become their own breakout group when I graduated in 1985. I TAUGHT the Basic programming computer teacher the finer points of Basic as a senior. Now we are the nerds who rule them all. Anyway, sorry about that

There were the jocks. There were the cheerleaders. There were the band nerds. There were the acting dinks. There were the vocational students (auto body, carpentry, etc). There were the average kids, and the special learning kids. The classes where the College Prep kids had to intermingle with the average kids were boring. Where the College Prep kids gathered by themselves, we excelled. I see the general state of education as being slowed down by NCLB in the same light.

Yes, this is a place where I can vent these frustrations. I dare not bring this subject up at my office, because we have master teachers, many of which taught ME, in the set of offices next door or downstairs. My business is technology. It is not the direct teaching of children. We are "support" staff. We do not have Masters and PhDs. The instructional staff at Central office do. Thusly, I just don't say anything and do what I am paid to do.

I feel better now. Yay!

quick disclaimer: i am kind of a freak about spelling and grammar, but for some reason i LOVE writing in all lowercase letters. i never do this in professional correspondence, but all other times you'll find my CF (capitals free ;-)) i think it probably goes back to my love of e.e. cummings. i just find it aesthetically pleasing.

on the other hand, i HATE text/chat speak. i work with teens and they have HORRENDOUS spelling b/c they grew up in the text messaging/instant messaging culture. even when i find hand written notes lying around, it is written in that abbreviated (i.e., butchered) version of english. ugh. they can't spell the most basic of words. so sad.

my school however, is amazing. it's a public charter high school so we have control over our curriculum, programming, hiring, etc. there are some state & fed guidelines, of course, but in many ways we are free to create a school that makes sense and teaches kids to think outside the box. i feel lucky.

Just a little caveat: I can and DO use 'text speak' on occasion. I use it not on message boards, not on emails, not in IM sessions, but actually (gasp) when texting a message from my phone. Seeing that environment is perfect for abbreviating like crazy, I can do that if I have to text a reply in a hurry.

Duane, i too will use SOME text speak on my phone. i always feel really silly about it, but it makes sense in that context . . .

I feel silly about it, but other people that I send/receive text messages, who are as anal about language as I am, do the same thing. So, I don't feel bad, as long as I keep the txt spk 2 txt msgs.

If I use abbreviations no one understands what i mean by them because i type them wrong...most of the time no one gets what i mean anyways because of my spelling... I have spell check and sometimes that helps with my spelling but most of the time i has no idea what i was trying to spell or it give me words that are not the one that i want. I have dyslexia so...my spelling on a good day is bad.... I use to hate the text short hand because it it would just swirl in my head and it never made sense but now it is everywhere so I am use to it.

I sometimes drift into "no caps" typing, too, mostly in instant messages. If I'm trading short, quick IMs with someone, my punctuation often falters, but brief messages suffer less from that weakness.

I only abbreviate words and phrases I am certain my audience understands. When in doubt, spell it out. I'm not talking about that crazy no-vowel text speak. I mean referring to a something or someone by obvious initials, provided all parties concerned know to what/ whom I'm referring. Usually, just to be safe, I do what I did above with "IMs." I'll spell it out the first time, then abbreviate future references. That seems to work pretty well.

I use a few very common internet abbreviations (LOL, OMG, and the like). But I didn't start using them until they WERE extremely common. Again, I want to be sure my audience knows what I'm saying.

I think the attention to proper use of language on this forum is best illustrated by the number of posts that are edited less than two minutes after the original posting. If you are all doing what I do, you're giving your post one last read after hitting "Submit" and noticing a tiny spelling/ punctuation/ tense mistake that makes you cringe.It appears none of us can stand to leave a typo uncorrected!

I really enjoyed Idiocracy, and ike GreyDrakkon, I really liked that they needed to be taught to use water on plants! I'm glad it was a reasonably short film though. Luke Wilson is so underrated!

I'm a bit fussy about spelling and grammar too... but I also find language fascinating, and fun! Variation and change seems to be inherent to language and communication. The way language is used can create a sense of belonging for some, and exclusion for others. The use of (normally) correct spelling in this forum definitely makes me feel at home!

Manatee: I love the Tara line!