Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Back Away from the Remote!

Another reason to make the kids put down the game controller/remote and pick up a book.

“My brother and I took a fairy across to Martha’s Vineyard.”

Oh dear.

I have to add that when I started back to college I took an advanced English class. One of our assignments was to critique each other's writings and offer suggestions to make them better. The professor instructed, "don't offer criticism on spelling or grammar, but on ideas."

I couldn't do it. Some of the writing was so poorly done that I couldn't tell if there was an idea in there or not. How in the hell did some of these people get into an advanced class without even knowing the basics (like how to use spell check)? ;-)

16 comments:

Queen Goob said...

But it was spelled correctly - only grammar check would have corrected them and informed them that unless they hitched a ride and used a saddle, the ride across the water was not what they were expecting.

Queen-Size funny bone said...

In my experience with my kids they seemed to want to pass them on without knowing basics and when I questioned the advancement they stated they were more worried about self esteem. Gee everyone knows that being stupid wouldn't affect self esteem. I kept them back.

Brenda said...

With the new standards, testing, and all that crap, the basics of education are being pushed to the back. They don't even require children to write in cursive (or even learn to really). I asked about this and was told that the teachers just want to be able to read what the students write.

Missicat said...

But did they bring him back?

Anonymous said...

Oh no! One does wonder these days--and I can't let poor grammar go either. I always have to at least underline it.

Unknown said...

I never leave comments on your site, but this is a pet peeve of mine too, so I thought I'd reply. I am taking college classes online and have run into the same problem. I have stopped replying to specific people because their spelling and grammar is so atrocious that I can't reply kindly. These people want to be psychologists and counselors and they can't even write an complete sentence! Aaahh!

Green-Eyed Momster said...

I loved the 'erotic driving' one! OMG!! Yeah, that was soooo, like High School!!
;)

Spell check rocks! I wish Google would put it in these comment boxes! I never see typos before I publish a comment.
(I read this one twice to double check spelling!)
Hope you are feeling 100%!!

Hugs!!

just bob said...

Why exactly did they take Richard Simmons to Martha's Vineyard?

KL said...

My mom was an English major, so I had this stuff beaten into me from a young age!

Once she got a note from my brother's English teacher that was totally filled with spelling and grammatical errors. So she underlined them and headed down to the school. She was informed that in California at that time (early 1970's), only people who had English as a second language were allowed to teach English....HUH!?!?!!

That is a true story! No wonder kids (and a lot of adults), can't use proper English, it doesn't exist anymore.

Star said...

That is both sad and amusing. I know that I may not always use the correct apostrophe placement. Still, I am constantly amazed at what passes for English. When my oldest daughter was in third grade her teacher sent home a spelling exercise on plurals. she had listed the plural of "deer" as "deers".
Maybe a fairy really did accompany the writer to Martha's Vineyard.

The Quacks of Life said...

oh god I am always doing stupid things like that. My fingers work faster than my brain (not difficult). occasionally I'm across old blog posts and find some right bloomers!!

Unknown said...

Silly people. They should all write English proper like what I do.

just bob said...

Eye conquer.

(I concur.)

just bob

Daisy said...

Rode the fairy. Uh-huh. Oh, my.

Anonymous said...

I taught college level physics for several years at CUNY. I had students that literally could not add 2+2, with a calculator.

Ann(ie) said...

hehe.