This is a good article and I want to save it. I teach community college English at present and am quite demanding when it comes to grammar and spelling. I learned a lot of it myself in elementary school and children CAN do so today as well. Does anyone remember "spelling bees?" They made spelling fun and added just that bit of competition. Does anyone remember diagramming sentences? I remember that as being fun, as well. This is not just something you do in English class. When I worked for Argonne National Laboratory from 1990-2002 (I also have a MBA as well as the MA in English,) one of my many tasks was to review all the incoming resumes for potential employees for our division. (We were doing a lot of hiring in the early 1990s.) If I came across a resume with any grammar or spelling errors I just pitched it into the wastebasket. Personally, I feel that carelessness in areas like spelling and grammar (especially in a resume that individuals have time to polish!!) will carry over into the workplace. In a place like a National Laboratory, there is little margin for error, whether in the lab or on a resume. One of the cardinal rules in writing is that you are always writing to an audience. If students are writing to their friends then they can use all the slang and shortcuts ("tuff," LOL, LMAO, etc., etc.) they want. When students switch to academic writing, they had better not use "U" instead of you or "4" instead of for---I have seen these and others in academic papers submitted to me. They may even know better, but if they use these digital shortcuts enough, they may not even be aware they are using them.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 23:59:16 +0000
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