On Reading Papers by US University Students

"SAT reading scores hit a four-decade low" - Emma Brown, Washington Post

As an adjunct university professor, thus by definition no genius but essentially a reinvented "experienced professional" in these times of inflated academic titles who needs money, I am struck by the constant lack of consideration on students' part for elementary grammar, ranging from the use of the apostrophe to sequence of tenses.

What really bothers me about these oversights is not so much grammatical infelicities that linguistic purists lose sleep about (infelicities I, not a native English speaker, am so often guilty of), but the assumption of some students that they don't need to check if they are using our English language in a comprehensible fashion.

Such students think that whatever they write, is inevitably"right, just because they say/"write" it.

There is an arrogance/ignorance about this that, quite frankly, drives me nuts. Proofreading seems to students -- I wish they were a minority -- totally passe (no, you don't need an accent aigu for "passe" in English, as is suggested by TheFreeDictionary).

As any writer worth her salt knows, she has to check (especially to question it) grammar, essentially the best use of words to make them clear and understandable to the reader, no matter in what form. Writing, in essence, is constant rewriting.

Also, for the aspiring artists/revolutionaries in the younger generation, how do you challenge grammatical/linguistic conventions (a challenge that is always culturally refreshing) if you don't even know what such (granted fragile) conventions are?

One of the wonders of the Internet is that it makes grammatical clarification easily accessible (up to certain points).  Even undergraduates who have never used a printed reference work can check on the Internet about the optimal use of words.

But all too many students don't bother to "check" anything they write. Why?

1. Adolescent hubris. I understand what I write, why don't you?  If you don't know what I mean, that's your problem.
2. "My teacher in high school never taught me I was wrong." (Or, as the teenage girl tells her parents, "I never asked to be born.")
3. I'm into the visual  ... like, you know, Youtube ...
4. Spell-check has done the job.
5. "I'll work in the new social media. 140 characters (how much is 140?) is all I need."

In all fairness, I am exaggerating. Some students are diligent, detail-minded, dedicated, you name the adjective.

But, all too often, I have found that, even among the "best" among them, the assumption is that "teacher go home (I won't use obscene language), I'm right."

Well, maybe they are right.

But what American college students seldom question  -- and I am speaking from experience -- is that they what themselves say/write may not be as right/perfect as they automatically assume.

That's the problem, as I see it. Absolute certitude. We're all guilty of it, and so its the younger generation, the hope of the future.

Well, OK. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard. So did Facebook's "Zuck," whose stocks admittedly are not doing so well these days.

So who "needs college" (admittedly, as exorbitant price these days)?

Still, think about it: In a society where not everyone is a wunderkid, and where precision counts, would you hire a basketball player on an NBA team who can't even make a lay-up even though she's totally convinced she's Michael Jordan?

FROM THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (SEPTEMBER 7, 2012), CITING GWYNNE'S GRAMMAR:

"Step one .... Thinking cannot be done without words. Step two. If we don't use words rightly, we shall not think rightly. Step three. If we do not think rightly, we cannot reliably decide rightly, because good decisions depend on accurate thinking. Step four. If we do not decide rightly, we shall make a mess or our lives, and also of other people's lives .... Step five. If we make a mess of our lives, we shall makes ourselves and other people unhappy .... Therefore: happiness depends at least on good grammar."

Of course, this is terribly simplistic, but it is a voice that has to be heard if we wish to maintain sanity as an element in our modern world.

Also see: Computer guy Kyle Wiens makes a lot of sense in his, "I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why."