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Failures of the Education System

Fergie

Fergie

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Flagstaff, AZ
As I sit here and review several papers for a 300 level class, I wonder where these people learned how to write, and if they have ever heard of a style guide.

I honestly think that an epileptic chimpanzee could put together more coherent thoughts thann some of these people.

No wonder the companies that scout here are always complaining about the horrible writing skills the new graduates have.

They need a beat down with a Baby Jesus.

Fergie
 
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We have the same problem recruiting for scientists. Excellent analytical and science skills; horrendous, incomprehensible writing.

My brother at UNR scans and sends me the worst papers his students produce. They are always good for a laugh!

That's why I make it my personal mission to raise the level of writing skillz on NAXJA.
 
Spelling is a problem as well. "thann"
 
I definately agree with that. I'm a student myself and I've noticed that the writing skills and such are worse than ever. Sometimes I feel like I'm slipping with my writing skills so I try to practice once in a while.
 
I thought I was doing good recieving (sp?) a B+ in a 250 Composition course with mainly juniors. That is until I read some of their papers...There was no compitition. Many would not use the tab key...ever!
 
I am in school (on-line classes) and its pretty rediculous to read some of the mistakes. There are spell check options, but I guess no one uses them. The mistakes are so obvious though, I guess nobody reads over there stuff before they submit it.
Some of the emails at work from co-workers and managers are just as bad though, and outlook has spell check.. how do you ignore a red line before you send something to everyone in the office?
 
The irony.

I corrected the post once because I had put "that" instead of than.

This past summer, one of my fellow interns was asked to correct all of him e-mail correspondence when he arrived to the jobsite. He was informed that if he expected to work for the company, his writing skills would need to improve.

A student here in the CM program had her job offer rescinded due to some horrible grammatical error contained in an e-mail she sent out to the company.

In several CM classes, we are expected to be able to write formal lab reports, in APA style, and you can see people having aneurisms at the thought of correct writing. They switch tenses, write passively, all sorts of crap.
 
Ludakris said:
I am in school (on-line classes) and its pretty RIDICULOUS to read some of the mistakes. There are spell check options, but I guess no one uses them. The mistakes are so obvious though, I guess nobody reads over THEIR stuff before they submit it.
Some of the emails at work from co-workers and managers are just as bad though, and outlook has spell check.. how do you ignore a red line before you send something to everyone in the office?
Click to expand...

Fixed it for ya too. ;)

edit: damn HTML formatting doesnt work
edit2: fixed the CP options and now I have it on full
 
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I blame it on the teaching and curriculum at the high school level. I had a teacher in junior and senior year, Mr. Harry Schultz, who is a large imposing man with a domineering personality. At the time I didn't appreciate it, but he was a tough teacher and I learned writing techniques from him that I utilize to this day. It became apparent to me in college when my peers in the engineering program lacked the spelling, grammatical, and stylistic ability of my writing, not to mention the articulate vocabulary. I am not fond of tooting my own horn, so I must thank Mr. Schultz for my writing ability.
 
Luckily my high school comp. teacher was a professor from CSU, and had the same curriculum, and was able to test out of the entry level course at CSU
 
dmillion said:
What's really funny is to see all the spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in the postings in this thread!
Click to expand...

x2
 
rock rash said:
Luckily my high school comp. teacher was a professor from CSU, and had the same curriculum, and was able to test out of the entry level course at CSU
Click to expand...

Looks like you would benefit from a refresher.
 
Fergie said:
The irony.
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I wouldn't get that bent out of shape about it.

There is a difference between formal correspondence and an online forum.

What bugs me is when things look obviously wrong because of a lack of effort versus an honest fat fingered mistake at the keyboard.

Bad spelling and grammar is everywhere, some places worse than others though (demographics). My grammar is "iffy" at best.

For spelling I have a double edge sword: all technical writing/coding goes in US style so that it is machine code syntactically correct but all work related correspondence with humans must be in the "Queen's english" for correctness. Switch back and forth several times an hour.

No worse than SI versus SAE I suppose.
 
Although I agree grammar is important, I believe teachers recently are overstressing "correctness" instead of flow and sense. I've been told by many teachers my grammar could use some work, but its the best written paper they've seen in awhile considering ease of reading and detail. Teach students how to organize their thoughts and make it sound good, then work on making it correct.

IMHO
 
Cherokee91Red said:
Although I agree grammar is important, I believe teachers recently are overstressing "correctness" instead of flow and sense. I've been told by many teachers my grammar could use some work, but its the best written paper they've seen in awhile considering ease of reading and detail. Teach students how to organize their thoughts and make it sound good, then work on making it correct.

IMHO
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What if the teachers are as retarded as the kids they are teaching? Lower the standards so the profs understand?

Fergie
 
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