Observing teenagers adeptly texting, tweeting, posting on Facebook and writing emails, many of us who grew up with toxic lead pencils and yellow Goldenrod tablets were hoping that the new technology would improve the writings skills of this generation. Apparently we were mistaken.
Using laptops with a spell-checking program, "Nearly three-quarters of the eighth graders and 12 th graders failed to achieve proficiency on a national writing test, according to a U.S Government report released Friday." (Toledo Blade, 9/15/2012). Those lacking proficiency had trouble organizing ideas, using paragraphs, writing in complete sentences, and using correct grammar.
Upon reflection, this should be of little surprise. When one reads email messages or posts of teenagers on social media sites, one finds unintentional sentence fragments, incorrect grammar, punctuation mistakes, improper usage and even spelling errors to be abundant.
Spelling errors with spell check? Frequently true. Either teenagers ignore spell check or their understanding of basic English usage is deficient. Spell check programs can't tell you whether you should be using "to," "too," or "two." And many teenage writers simply don't know the difference between "there," "they're," or "their."
Writing skills are important in this age of technology; and teenagers need to learn to use correct grammar and proper usage; or they will be presenting themselves to the world as second class citizens.
Although many question a traditional liberal arts college education these days, competent writing skills are more necessary than ever. Unfortunately, for those looking for the easy way out, competent writing skills are a basic requirement. Google does not hire people who lack such fundamental skills.
(Yes, I know I have used sentence fragments in the above paragraphs. Also I am not finding fault with texting abbreviations. WTF, B4N.)
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