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The Importance of Learning Grammar and
Other Writing Skills.
From: Marie Rackham
Retired
English Teacher
(Bio and Qualifications)
Believe it or not, poor writing skills
are rampant even at the University level and beyond. You don't have to
take my word for it; I have supplied a few articles below that bring
this to the forefront. Please feel free to read through the articles
or even do a search yourself for articles on the lack of grammar or
writing skills today.
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Why
Grammar? By Marie Rackham
"During the late 1960s and the early 1970s, education,
influenced by the social changes of the '60s, went through a period
where the teaching of grammar was thought to be stifling to creativity."
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An
Argument for Grammar
By Rick Walston, Ph.D
"I have met people with bachelor's, master's,
and doctoral degrees from accredited colleges,
universities, and, yes, seminaries, whose writing
abilities are simply atrocious."
- Papers
R.J. Carson, 1998
"An educated person should be able to write
well. For more than two decades I have been teaching
at Whitman College, where most students are bright,
but many are not good writers. Many of the same
errors occur over and over, year after year:
misspelled words (despite "spell-check"),
incomplete sentences, improper citations and
referencing, and unintentional plagiarism."
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Poor Grammar Be Causing Lots Of Them Problems For
Couple
By Harlan Cohen
King Features Syndicate
Published June 23, 2004
"I have been dating a thoughtful, warm and
caring man for the past five months. He has many
positive traits, and I care a lot about him. So
what's the problem? His poor, incorrect grammar.
He is intelligent and educated, but often when he
talks, he sounds as though he is neither."
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A
doggie-dog world by Michael Ackley
"Their vocabularies are limited and grammar is
alien to them, as are punctuation and capitalization.
Beyond "noun" and "verb," most
cannot tell you any of the other parts of speech.
Their English is so fractured, they make errors the
grammarians have yet to name."
- Santa Cruz Sentinel August 17, 2003
By JONDI GUMZ Sentinel staff writer
"Experts say that discrepancy is a big part
of the reason a majority of kids in California
can’t consistently write a decent paragraph or
even punctuate a sentence correctly."
"In fact, they say, many of the state’s
children are woefully unprepared to fill out a job
application, write a simple letter of complaint or
succeed in college."
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#
1 - Spelling Errors, Typos and Poor Grammar
"For those of you who have waited or
emailed me over the last several weeks asking what
the Number One complaint among recruiters is about
resumes, your wait is no more. Hands down, without a
doubt, the NUMBER ONE complaint is Spelling Errors,
Typos and Poor Grammar."
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The National Commission on Writing
“Recent analyses indicate that more than 50
percent of first-year college students are unable
to produce papers relatively free of language
errors. Analyzing arguments and synthesizing
information are also beyond the scope of most
first-year students, according to these
accounts.”
- January 3, 2003, edition of The
Chronicle of Higher Education
Why Johnny Can’t Write, Even Though He
Went To Princeton
"Almost everyone comes in well-trained to
gather research in the library," says Judith A.
Swan, a lecturer in Princeton’s writing program.
"But almost none of them are capable of turning
that into a real paper with a thesis and an
argument."
- Public Agenda – Reality Check
2002
This survey indicates that 75% of Professors
and 73% of Employers say that the inability of
students/employees to write clearly is a major
problem.
-
Irascible Professor December
1, 2003
[Dr. Mark H. Shapiro - California State University,
Fullerton]
The IP comments that while teaching an introductory
physics laboratory to college juniors and seniors,
primarily majoring in biology or biochemistry, out
of the brief lab reports written in class on a
weekly basis, most students grasp the important
concepts from the experiment. However, their ability
to communicate this understanding is far weaker than
one would expect for college juniors and seniors.
- Santa Cruz Sentinel August 17, 2003
By JONDI GUMZ Sentinel staff writer
Four out of 10 county students enrolling at a
California State University campus last year had to
take a remedial writing class, according to state
university officials. One third entering University
of California schools had to take remedial writing.
Eighty percent of county students enrolling at
Cabrillo College aren’t ready for college-level
composition, Cabrillo officials say.
As one Harbor High School sophomore said:
"We don’t actually do that much writing in
English. I actually did more writing in health
class."
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Basic
Grammar
