Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kiss_kass]

It's about damned time the English teachers started teaching again!!!

Yes, Virginia, grammar does matter.I would also like to take a rather uncharacteristic moment to say "Up yours, you fuckwitted moron" to every "educator" who has espoused the verbal diarrhea "grammar inhibits writing and creativity." May the grammarians win and your ilk be run

Comments

[grail76]

When Great Britain had an empire they trained their furure beaurocrats in Latin and Greek and then sent them off to adminsiter people on the subcontinent of India.

Grammar was taught very poorly when I went to school in the 50s and 60s.

The first thing I liked about his approach was that he did it in small section betwen literary units.

There is a style of music instruction where each time a student makes an error the composition is stopped, it is corrected and he begins playing again. This works well on Journeymen musicians, not so well on people just learning.

The IDEA behind the de-emphysis on Grammar was to make it something that polished the work, not the essence of the work. It got out of hand.

Nice to see it making a comeback in a better way.

[free_of_whip]

I'd agree. When my children were in kindergarten, they had exercises in which they were supposed to write essays. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation didn't count at all then. The thought was that at a time when they were likely to misspell pretty much every word, that sort of exercise was the only way to let them get a sense of the flow of writing. Later, when they could manage to write and only misspell a few words, was the time to focus on the fine points. Both kids ended up as grammar Nazis, so apparently either something worked at school, or they learned at home.

[kiss_kass]

Most likely, it was taught by you.

[kiss_kass]

Grammar was not taught at all at any of the elementary schools my daughter attended. She knows the difference between a noun, verb, adjective and adverb because I taught her the distinctions. Teachers REFUSED to correct grammar and spelling errors in children's papers. The justification from educators, teachers and principals alike, was that grammar inhibits creativity and writing, not that it should be something to polish the work. That is a crock of crap anyway.

As such, I became the english teacher. Her papers were never submitted without me grading them for grammar and spelling first. I taught her phonics so that she could pronounce and understand unfamiliar words. Last time I checked, I was paying taxes to support the schools who were supposed to teach these lessons.

How exactly are children to learn if they are not taught the lessons, nor are they corrected when they are in error?

Grammar is the foundation of writing and written communication. It is not the end step. You cannot write effectively without being able to

[grail76]

I don't disagree. I just say it was taught poorly for a long time.