4 Reasons Why We Need to Teach Our Children Proper Grammar
In the last few decades, the notion that proper grammar is an outdated concept has become increasingly widespread. Frankly, it makes me want to vomit. Every day we sit back and watch as people murder the English language. Here are a few reasons that will hopefully convince you to make sure your children can properly communicate:
· People judge you by how you speak- Whether you like it or not, people equate grammar with intelligence. It is important to teach children that the more broken their sentences are, the more slang they employ, and the more they mispronounce the words, the more they will be perceived as ignorant. Now does the use of incorrect English actually correlate to ignorance levels, or is that just perpetuating bogus stereotypes? I would argue in favor of the former, the latter being a complete cop-out.
· Necessity for college- If you want to enter college (much less do well), not only do you need to know how to write correctly, but you also need to know how to efficiently communicate. My college years were a blur of research papers and persuasive essays. It began with my college entrance essay and ended with my Million-Page Essay Final Exam right before graduation (and technically continued into my career). As I coasted through, obtaining high honors by using the grammar skills my parents and teachers taught me, I watched in sympathy as many of my classmates broke into tears over the D’s and F’s they consistently received for their effort (or lack thereof). When they asked me for help, I would review their papers only to find that they could barely string together an entire sentence, much less anything that would could pass for collegiate writing. I shook my head in awe as they verbally attempted to find the error of their ways. While they talked, I began to notice that they spoke just like they wrote! Was there a connection? Probably…
· Job acquisition- I remember a retail job I used to have in which one of my responsibilities was reviewing applications for employment. I was a young guy at the time, still sailing through college. The job being applied for didn’t require many skills- mainly just the ability to relate, communicate, and sell. The applicants were typically teenagers or young adults. I recall looking over the applications and marveling at many teens’ inability to explain in writing why they wanted or deserved the job. Misspellings, lack of punctuation, incorrect verb usage (e.g. I beleve you should hire me cause I liked to help peoples) coated the applications like mold on bread. So guess which applications made it to the interview sessions and which ones ended up in the trash?
· Obama vs. Bush- In the eyes of the general public, President Obama is pretty much the Savior. On the other hand, former President Bush is more like Lucifer. Why is that? Well I could probably write a list longer than my child’s Christmas list, but let’s focus on what I consider one of the most important reasons- communication skills. President Obama is a master speaker who understands the need to exhibit his intellectualism through properly and eloquently spoken words. Grammatical errors commonly justified as “dialect” are nowhere to be found in his delivery. Even if his speeches completely infuriate you, you can’t help but be inebriated by the manner in which he manipulates the English language. And when his speeches are over, you can’t help but admit that his manner of speech exudes intellect .
Where President Obama enamors with speech like fine wine, former President Bush tripped through the English language with misused words such as “nuk-u-lar” and “misunderestimated.” As a matter of fact, there was even a term coined for his heinous linguistic crimes- “Bushisms.” Type the term into your favorite search engine and notice what you discover- countless websites, pictures, and videos of President Bush successfully making himself the butt of millions of jokes by misusing the English language. Despite his education, he looked like an ignorant hick and caused President Obama’s oratory to stand out even more.
Many useless concepts are just too old fashioned to use: morality, intellectualism, reading comprehension… let’s add grammar to that list. Who needs it, anyway? Have you ever seen the famous movie, Planet of the Apes? The apes eloquently debate over the rights of the beasts (animals) while the humans can barely force a grunt. Where do you think it started?
Hint: The process is already underway.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Beyond children do you have recommendations for adults to seek out further education online? I was always too poetic with my words and as I’ve grown up I’ve been called upon many times to write, copy, edit, even though I have little background in it. Self taught from those around me I often wonder are there places to find that offer a way for me to refine my current skills? This would also be important for anyone re-entering the job market or needing some re-education outside of a community college. Any good resources you would list?
April 15th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
@ Andy- Let me look into it a little more and see what I can find. So far all I have to offer is this:
http://www.drgrammar.org/
It looks like it has a lot of links that could be useful.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:25 am
Thank you very much for putting this post together. I have been getting very disheartened when on YouTube and reading the “comments”.
It takes me a while to translate them. I think I’ve been lucky to just avoid that generation by a few years but I did start to see it creep in at college and university.
I do think its a valid comment to say there is correlation between lack of grammar and intelligence - it just seems to ring so true with the people I have dealt with.
I’ll share the post around - as I posted on my Facebook not long ago how disappointed I am with the standard of the English language today.
Thanks!
April 17th, 2009 at 9:06 am
@ Jack Reed- Thanks! Grammar seems to be fading into a lost art. It’s sad.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
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April 23rd, 2009 at 8:56 am
I felt so judgmental yesterday sitting in the sauna eavesdropping on a conversation just outside the door.
One woman said to the other, “I seen her last week.”
The other woman said, “What?”
Then the first woman, speaking slightly louder and enunciating each word, said “Barbara. I just seen Barbara last week.”
Which proves your first point. I did judge her as less intelligent because of her poor grammar. I feel bad about that, but it was my knee-jerk reaction.
May 11th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Here’s my take on it…
If you know how to use proper grammar, and you use crappy grammar to be cute or funny, that’s one thing. I grew up with my dad butchering the English language on purpose on a regular basis. One would think that I would have learned bad grammar from this, but it only helped to point out how stupid a person could sound lol
I’m dismayed to see my nieces and other teens/20-somethings today who simply can’t use anything resembling proper grammar or spelling when they need to. It’s almost like a disability, and I just know it’s going to cause them serious problems later in life.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I have nothing but the highest respect for your agenda…however, please allow me to pick a nit. In your fourth sentence, the “hopefully” should be “, I hope,”. Yes, usage now allows that particular adverb to modify a whole sentence, but to achieve true purity of style, please consider the substitution. Onward against the linguistic barbarians!
May 19th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
alright, so: everyone needs to go ahead and STOP saying that the teleprompter-in-chief is a “good speaker”. the man can’t speak without reading and can’t read without “uh, uh, uh, uh” every other sentence. i don’t care if he doesn’t make up words like “misunderestimated”, i have met 4th graders who speak more fluidly.
i say that only because i completely agree with your other points. i absolutely judge people’s intelligence by their grammar: hence my point.
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:32 am
True story: One day at work, one of my coworkers wrote something work related on a big blackboard. Another coworker came in, read the board and shook his head in disapproval while saying, “Now, Tom, what kind of English do that be?”
Oh, and I agree wholeheartedly with every point in this article.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 am
I totally agree with everything in this article and have been sadly lamenting for too many years about how badly Americans speak. When you hear parents speaking so badly to their children, I guess we should NOT be surprised by what the children consider proper speech. Do they even teach proper grammer anymore?
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Isn’t your fourth point just an example to illustrate your first?
While I agree with your assessment of these two men, I would advise you to keep your politics out of it. You risk alienating many who could benefit from, or intellectually contribute to, the discussion.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
@ Ami- My fourth example is a “real world” connection. It has nothing to do with which president I prefer. The fact is, the two presidents and their public perception perfectly illustrate the thread that ties my article together. I’m not going to shy away from using politicians as examples because Republicans or Democrats can’t handle the facts. I am a member of neither party, so my personal politics have nothing to do with this.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
@Chris- you needn’t shy away from using political figures to illustrate your point, but I would hardly call your use of value-laden terms such as “the Savior” and “Lucifer” devoid of political influence. Further, what statistics did you use to determine that these men appear the way you claim they do “in the eyes of the general public”?
It may not have been your intention, but because of the language you chose to use, your fourth example reeks of your personal politics.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:36 am
@ Ami- Perhaps “general public” is the wrong term. Maybe I should have said “pop culture?” I don’t know… regardless, President Obama’s overall approval was way up at the time I wrote this entry and by the end of former President Bush’s final term he was definitely hated. President Obama rode a genius marketing wave that set him up as the harbinger of change. His followers were sick of Bush. Period. Whether you like either or not, I don’t see how my claim can be refuted.
July 8th, 2009 at 10:39 am
@ Chris: That you’re unaware of how your claim can be refuted is unfortunate; irrelevant for this discussion, but unfortunate nonetheless. My personal feelings about your claim, whether I “like either or not”, are also irrelevant, so I’ll choose to keep them out of it.
The point is this: you are an educator. To use inflammatory terms about two eristic politicians in a blog entry about grammar is irresponsible. Shame on your editor as well for letting it pass.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:04 am
@ Ami- Let me rephrase- I understand how you can refute my argument, I just don’t agree with your line of reasoning.
I suppose this is one of those “agree to disagree” situations. The irresponsibility you speak of is an opinion to which you are entitled. I didn’t realize that one of an educator’s goals was to make sure we didn’t offend anyone- especially on the my own blog. This really is unfortunate.
Anyway, I can agree with you that the discussion is irrelevant and finished.
July 8th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
@ Chris: Quite a feat, agreeing with me on a point I never made. Feel free to scroll through my comments to see if I ever used the adjective “irrelevant” to modify the noun phrase “the discussion”. I can assure you, you won’t find an occurrence. But it is amusing to me that you used a rhetorical device often employed by politicians who wish to effectively end discussions without any real resolution.
Look, you know those little comment cards restaurants sometimes place on their tables inviting customers to answer the question “How can we do better?” You provide a service and I am representative of a portion of your “customers”. Consider my comments your little card and do with them as you will.
Feel free to respond, but it will only be for your own amusement and that of anyone entertained enough to be following our little discussion. I have ceased to consider this blog a legitimate educational source; not because you disagree with me, but because of your tendency towards (insistence upon?) careless and irresponsible pedagogical practices. So, I won’t be back and I won’t be recommending it to any friends.
July 9th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
@ Ami- Thanks for your input. Please feel free to recommend us to your friends!
July 9th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
A couple of things:
1) Obama’s February approval rating was 83%. Bush’s final approval rating was 22%. People wore Bush shirts that said “Not my president;” others wear shirts depicting Obama as Superman. I think it’s safe to say Bush was viewed as a Lucifer-type figure in the eyes of the general public and Obama was viewed as the savior.
2. Who cares about all of this anyway? It’s a blog, not a textbook for school. Grow up.
As for the comment card, I’m sure we’ll take it just as seriously as those restaurants do (i.e. we’ll throw it in the trash).
August 16th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
You people disgust me. Take a Linguistics class, read a Linguistics book, do SOMETHING to get this horrible idea that people are “murdering the English language” out of your heads. As a post-doc and researcher of linguistics, the amount of time that I have to spend fighting and fighting with students, research subjects, and random people such as yourselves about how fundamentally flawed the concept of prescriptive grammar is is insane. Go back to speaking Latin, or, for godsake, just shut up and stop polluting the intellectual sphere with your drivel.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
i agree with david. and honestly, putting the first reason for correct grammar is that people are judged by their grammar is a little anti-progressive. i guess i should hang up all of my clothes that don’t conform as well, seeing as how people are judged by what they wear.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:14 pm
@ David- In your last sentence you should have said “for god’s sake” rather than “for godsake.” You might even consider capitalizing “God.” Let me know if I can help you out with any other grammatical errors.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:17 pm
@ foldered- Maybe you’re right, but as a parent, I want my child to sound educated. Surely you can see the numerous benefits in that.
August 25th, 2009 at 5:31 am
We should differentiate between grammar, syntax and rhetoric. The first is to do with the overall structure of sentences in terms of inflection, emphasis, and composition; syntax with the bones that give language shape; and rhetoric with the ability to manipulate language to best effect. Obhama is a consummate rhetorician.
September 24th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
When I saw this thread, I drooled. Finally, someone who understands that the current generation is just becoming lazy.
I’m one of the many few still in my teenage years who uses proper grammar in my writing, whether it’s on Instant Messenger or filling out a Job Application.
As a teenager myself, I’ve noticed the unnecessary need for creating “slang” terms like “LOL”, “ROFLCOPTER”, “LOLZORS”, “LAWL”, “K” and “FML”.
I see online usernames with numbers in and I wonder why players can’t just put two words together and leave out the 59, or the pointlessly long usernames like “X.X.X.X (username) X.X.X.X.X”
The grammar palette of this generation is apalling.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Language is fluid. As long as what is being said or written is easily understood, then it does not matter what form the language takes. Holding on to more or less arbitrary rules that do not effect understanding is just as ridiculous as any slang.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:04 am
@ jinond- I completely disagree.
December 11th, 2009 at 11:49 am
If you doubt that correct grammar and spelling is unimportant, just take a look at the hundreds of websites devoted to uncovering the errors found in newspapers, magazines, signage, and the Web. Facebook has scores of groups devoted to language (and mocking errors) with thousands and thousands of members. Regardless of your opinion of grammatical gaffes, people *do* judge others by their language and vocabulary.