Concerned about kids these days
By jslice
@jslice (10)
Canada
November 16, 2010 9:13pm CST
I'm noticing more and more people are unable to spell simple words. I'm also noticing many use no punctuation whatsoever when typing. It's frightening me a little bit.
I can understand these mistakes if English is not someone's first language. I know I'd make a ton of mistakes if I tried to communicate in a language other than the one I grew up with. I'm talking about people who have spoken English their entire lives, but still can't tell the difference between there, their, and they're; your and you're; its and it's; no and know; and so on. I'll admit I'm far from perfect in my grammar and punctuation, especially in using semicolons. But at least I try. I can't even count the number of things I've read on the internet that have no commas, periods, apostrophes, anything!
I saw a joke once that made me giggle, and I'd like to share it with you in order to illustrate my point:
"Why are commas so important? Because there's a big difference between "Let's eat, Grandpa!" and "Let's eat Grandpa!""
What frightens me the most about these things is education. Kids who can't even spell words like "mine", "said", and "machine" are graduating high school. Graduating! What has happened to our education systems that has caused teachers to allow these people to move on to the real world? What's worse is that these kids are getting into college! I'm being absolutely, 100% honest with you when I say that I know an 18-year-old girl who spelled "mine" "myn", and "said" "sed". She's graduating high school this year.
I fear for the youth of today. More than that, I fear for the elderly of tomorrow. When these kids grow up and become doctors, lawyers, and accountants, I hope I'm six feet under. Because I don't want to go to an illiterate doctor for my heart medication. I don't want a lawyer that can't spell "not guilty".
Is anyone else concerned about this?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
17 Nov 10
Hi Jslice,
Welcome to Mylot! I know what you mean. I think computers happened to education. The kids rely on spell check and whatnot to fix and edit for them. In doing so they don't really learn. I'm not sure that's the entire problem. I have seen and corrected some papers that my girls have handed in to class. They would get irritated at me for correcting them because they said it did not affect their grade. It was true. The teacher did not mark them down for errors in spelling or grammar. When I was in school, we lost points off our grade for these things as well as neatness.
@jslice (10)
• Canada
18 Nov 10
I remember that! I'm only 24, but even when I was a kid, they took marks off if our work was messy, too. And how do spelling and grammar not affect the grade? That's insane! Did teachers just get lazy all of a sudden? "I'm a History teacher, not an English teacher. This does not concern me." Please tell me it was not the English teacher that let spelling and grammar errors slip through.
@Graceekwenx (3160)
• Philippines
17 Nov 10
Welcome to mylot jslice. Before i answered your question, i looked at your profile and noticed that you are canadian. I also see the same with the youth of my country Philippines. A few months ago, a jargon called "jejemon jargon" sprouted out of nowhere. They use this language in an effort to abbreviate text messaging. Unfortunately so, they have somehow put the english language in stagnation. And like you, yes, i am so concerned about this. There has been a hoopla that the Department of Education has intentions of extending the elementary and high school years. I dont know if this would be a good solution to improve the youth's power on vocabulary.
@JudgeIronFist (2472)
• Singapore
17 Nov 10
This all boils down to the advancement in technology. Since the invention of cell phones, people have been communicating in it and sms-ing in it, using the short form of words. Take for example the word, 'me'. They will spell it as 'mi'. Another example is 'what'. This will be spelled as 'wat' or 'wad'. See what I mean? Youngsters nowadays keep relying on these words and slowly, it becomes a habit and I've seen in my high school, some of my classmates got low marks in their composition because of sms language used in their work which includes '2' and that means 'to'. For me, I can be quite flexible and it'll not be a problem to me. When I sms, I'll use sms language but when I'm in school and writing something, I'll use the normal language. I'm fine but many students can't switch because it has become a bad habit. Next time when they go to work, it'll reflect badly too. This is indeed a worrying trend...
@damned_dle (3942)
• Philippines
17 Nov 10
Yeah, I'm worried about it too. But the kids are not to blame, it is the school they go to and their teachers that are responsible for it. Many schools are still teaching the proper way to do it. So it is very important to choose a good school to enroll our kids.
@jslice (10)
• Canada
17 Nov 10
That's what scares me. How do you know which schools are going to teach proper English? And, a thought that just occurred to me, when did teachers at these not-so-amazing schools stop caring whether or not the kids are getting the education they deserve? It's a shame.
@rovered777 (649)
• United States
17 Nov 10
Your point is well written, and I believe that there are many people who simply can't obey punctuation rules. It seemed really funny when you introduced that teaching about Grandpa, but it is a real life problem for many. The things that hold them back are not wit, but the low quality of English verbalization. Some of these internet writers you mentioned probably don't have a solid education, and might have passed high school at risk or by cheating. Its a sad reality!!! There needs to be better writers and readers for our society to flourish. This will lead to more productivity on all fronts. When doctors consult with patients and patients don't know how to communicate well to that doctor, misdiagnosis's and negative effects can harm the Doctor's career and the patient's life. I believe you word for word, jslice!!!
@JahKewn (36)
• United States
17 Nov 10
haha your rite im also vary consernd about this kids these days are getting dum and its just hard to understand them sumtimes like one time a gurl i no was liek
Just kidding. Really.
Being apart of this age group and witnessing the downfall of grammar myself is just sickening, well actually more annoying than anything. Whatever kids learn in English class these days just doesn't seem to stick. :-(
Also, my biggest pet peeve ever has to be people using "your" in place of "you're."
I can't stand it!
I hate being a grammar nazi, so right now I just grit my teeth and bear it hahahh :-|
