If you don't understand the subject, congratulations! You can probably read (either that or you're completely illiterate, and you can't understand a word I'm writing here). My latest rant is about the death of grammar and spelling in the computer age. See, back when I was in school (read: college), the Internet was just beginning to become popular. And the majority of emails, chats, and web sites that I encountered could be read and understood by a normal human being. Granted, the spelling and grammar were never perfect, but at least people tried.
However, with the advent of Instant Messaging and cell phones with text capabilities, and the general shortening of attention spans, Internet shorthand has begun to kill grammar.
Now, maybe I'm being a Luddite here; maybe this is just a natural evolution to the language. But reading some of the stuff that's coming from high-school and college-age kids these days is frightening. Hell, the FBI has even hired three teenage girls to help them understand and join in on Internet chats (source).
The problem is, unfortunately, not as simple as blaming the Internet. There's also television (which pulls kids from books, in turn pulling them away from examples of good grammar), overcrowded schools (where kids can't get enough attention paid to their individual progress), and even standardized tests (how can a multiple-choice test really take into account a child's writing skill, or lack thereof?). And, of course, there's the parents. My parents encouraged me to write well. They encouraged me to write, edit, revise, and rewrite everything that came out of my brain and on to paper. The final responsibility for all of our children lies with the parents. Always.
Leave a comment