Pretty much everyone I know responds to my emails (yes, emails) on their smartphone.

They respond to email because they know I don’t text.

As a result, I am inundated with emails that not only respond to the subject at hand, but provide me with constant comedic content.

They don’t need to try and be funny, because their phone’s autocorrect takes care of that.

And gives me the opportunity to make (as a Brit friend says) smartarse comments.

That said, I’m taking this opportunity to show I really do understand the difficulty they are facing.

It’s not their fault.

They are all much too busy to review their emails before hitting “send.”

Image credit: Language Log

CandidProf is dealing with the aftermath of Ike—he’s fine, but has family in Houston; hopefully he’ll be back with us next week. (Read all of CandidProf here.)  In the meantime…Last week, CandidProf cited new rules by the Dallas School District that, essentially, eliminated accountability from the classroom—“…students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty…”

Hilariously, an article yesterday on the dismal state of grammar and spelling said “the State Board of Education in May adopted new curriculum standards, including greater emphasis on grammar instruction in Texas schools.” I wonder how that will match up with Dallas’ no accountability standard.

The article focuses on the spelling in signs, “cheep gas, No in-and-out priviliges,” and student writing.

• “There is nothing wrong with my writing, maybe it is her that doesn’t know what she is doing.”
• “After writing numerous papers I feel I have improved existentially.”
• “He should not have taken that for granite.”

But don’t sit there and smugly assume that this is a Dallas or even a Texas problem, it’s global.

“A university lecturer in England says teachers should accept their students’ errors – Febuary instead of February or speach instead of speech. “Either we go on beating ourselves and our students up over this problem, or we simply give everyone a break,” Ken Smith wrote last month in the Times Higher Education Supplement.”

That lecturer would feel right at home in Dallas.

“Educators say these bungled words are a symptom of a deeper problem: Students aren’t learning grammar.”

Duh. Based on the writing I’ve seen both in and out of business, they haven’t been learning it for decades.

I guess this is what’s meant by a pebble turning into an avalanche.

Do you think that the Federally mandated no child left behind and associated funding cuts are improving the situation or do they inspire “just so they pass” rules similar to those from the Dallas Board?

Your comments—priceless

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Image credit: multiple  CC license