How Do You Feel About Written Communication?

Ok SLM, here's the way I see it.

Language was developed as a means of communication between people. So it makes a certain amount of sense that PEOPLE will change it to suit their needs of communication.

For example, 'proper' English has changed a little with every generation. Western English (American) and Queen's English both. Our American forefathers might be SHOCKED at my MOTHER'S inability to recognize where 'thee' should be used, not 'you', and where 'shall' should be used, not should or would or will. See?

Like it or not (and no, I guess I DON'T like it either, sigh), those who talk like this....'OMFG, r u kidding me? Ikr?! Will in fact be ruling the world, very soon. Those of us left who remember what WE were taught as 'proper' will be dieing off, and few will even remember a time when we said 'I Love You' only to actual loved ones. Same as the writers of our country's great documents understood where Thine was proper, and 'yours' was slang.

As a Word Wench myself, I feel your pain. But I have a houseful of highly intelligent, very successful, motivated teenagers who WILL be deciding the fate of YOU AND ME after telling each other...'gtg, brb'. Sure, they're VERY educated, sure they know how past generations communicated, but only THEY can say whether their way is right or wrong.

Sigh, again.

:)

(And yes, I went back and took out a few apostrophes and fixed spelling!)

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You spelled "about" wrong....

Ooops, no, it doesnt bother me, Mamapedia is not my resume. Im not losing sleep over it.

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Newspapers are written at a 4th grade reading level.
That's a sad fact reflecting the educational level of Americans.

Yes, I believe education is important. It's very important.
You can have the best ideas in the universe and if you can't express them or communicate them, what good are they?

In case you haven't noticed, we aren't spending "so much money" on education anymore. And American kids are getting left in the dust. So many countries consistently outperform American children.

So, I guess your question is, would I prefer a childcare provider that is literate, speaks and writes grammatically? Yes!

Kids soak up what's in their environment--good and bad. Why wouldn't I want my provider to be a "good" thing?

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Here is the thing, since I was the one making fun of her spelling errors. She basically said that she picked a sitter based on no spelling or grammar errors. Then while reporting on this made two blatant spelling and grammar errors!! For god sake if you can't spell check yourself don't act like it is such a big deal. What she basically said is she is stupid, she is not stupid, she made some spelling errors.

The sitter's mom, friend, lady at the library could have proofed that application. It means nothing!!! Yet it appears she based her decision on the verbiage of the application. Do you not see the idiocy of that exercise??? That and she seemed proud of herself, sorta, since she was pondering if it was a mistake.

I read a lot online and I really don't pay attention to minor errors. I do not point out errors.....unless the person posting feels the need to bring up errors in grammer [sic]!

Education is important. If it was not for my education I can assure you I would not write as well as I do. As it is I am still not a writer but lord better than most.

Just an FYI, English is not my first language, math is. In my mind rules should not negate other rules. I before E should always be, none of the C nonsense. I had to use my programming skills to trick my brain into learning grammar. Funny but true, I pulled off a 700 on my verbal GMAT. Not bad for the girl who flunked English in seventh grade. :p

Oh if anyone thinks I don't talk like this in the real world, you are right. A good chunk of my vocabulary I cannot spell well enough to give spell check a clue of what I am going for. *blush* I also use bigger words when I am agitated, why I do not know but it is funny to see me in the real world when I am pissed. It sounds like I am throwing up a dictionary.

Oh and one more thing, sorry, to back up SLM, I have had this vocabulary long before I went back to school six years ago. Before that I barely graduated high school because I was a piece of work. Some of the most intelligent people I know, including my husband, have never set foot in an institution of higher education.

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We really do not spend that much money on education. It is mostly going to the sports teams, really.

Also, as for child care providers. Many can provide loving and stable environments for young toddlers and infants without being the best at spelling or grammar. Are they teaching other concepts such as sharing, kindness, perhaps the abc's, colors, shapes, days of the week...? What annoys me, is when people talk to children in baby talk. That is not how to teach young learners how to speak.

Obviously, it's important for professional publications such as The New York times to be clearly edited, I have come across plenty of errors in those articles and even in books I read, in which people have the specific job to look for errors. However, I do not have this attitude that perfection is attainable at all times and can still go about my day without being catty and judgmental towards people who have some errors.... especially on discussion boards, emails and such in a non-professional setting.

Now, on another note, it is slightly horrifying when people have problems making a sentence or question even remotely understandable. Some of that may be due to language barriers, it may be lack of education, it may be laziness, so I'm not going to put much stock into it. Although I have seen people talk about homeschooling that could barely spell the word or even make a cohesive sentence, or really even know anything in the slightest a bout education at all, that definitely makes me worried for their children. I am horrible at math, thus I would never teach it to my kids and leave it at the hands of someone more equipped with those skills, you know?

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I notice errors in the newspaper pretty regularly. I think the American standard on just about EVERYthing has been lowered. How it evolved to this I do not know. Spelling and grammar were important to me while raising my kids. Never let them use the word "aint".... I think that one word makes even the most intelligent person sound like an ignorant.
I think spelling is very important.
I'm glad spell check is around tho... I have to use it a lot.

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Yes education is important, personally I just feel that sometimes we go overboard on judgements when it comes to spelling errors. Yes we should double check our stuff, especially if we are applying for a job or have any hand in educating children, but even in your post above ("abut") accidents happen. I would consider you an educated person and would not rule you out to take care of my children based on something like that ending up in an email.
I think that sometimes people type too fast or something along those lines and mistakes happen. I also think that it is not fair to rule these people as uneducated because they made a mistake. I also know A LOT of highly educated people that cannot spell well at all, but they dont become english teachers, they usually go into computer science or something like that. ;)

I just feel that we as a country are overly judgemental of a lot of things that we dont need to be! Yes spelling is important, but I think we are so quick to correct other people when we should be focusing a bit more on ourselves.

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Thank you, SLM! I was the one who had a spelling error in my post that I wrote on my Smartphone and was bashed by one mom in particular, who already called herself out on here. I want someone to watch my children who is intelligent, not someone who will teach my children to speak or write incorrectly. Who doesn't want that? I do not have spell check on here, but if I was looking to apply for a job, I would do EVERYTHING to make sure I used correct grammer and spelling. This is a mom forum, not a place for us to be judged. I also said that I did not want certain sitters based on their profile pictures. I do NOT want someone coming to my house who wore a tight black mini dress and had their name written in what looked like red lipstick. Sorry. You want someone who looks trustworthy, sounds intelligent, etc. Who doesn't want the best for their kids? Seriously. Sometimes the responses are here are mean just for the sake of being mean. I did not say in my post that I did not want to hire someone for their spelling. My husband and I are scanning each applicant thoroughly, this person will watch our kids for crying out loud!!!

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Yes, yes, yes education is important! but a true education is much more than what one learns in books. Agreed? it is our job as parents to be sure to expose our children to a variety of experiences and pick up where the classroom leaves off.
Re: spelling and grammar - it is my job and i still make mistakes - LOL! BUT there was a study (My high school journalism teacher shared) that showed how well you spell is determined by middle school and from then on - you will either have to live with a dictionary or spell check:) Guess what? poor spellers used to just have to look up the words. Even with spell check/grammar flags good writing and proofreading is needed - the green squiggles show up when no grammar mistake is present (it just uses the wrong word for reference ) and to, too and two are all correct, but used differently:) so in short - yes, eduction is still important.

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I think that while language changes, some changes are not for the better. My stepson is horribly irritated when someone uses chat speak (sometimes it renders the message unintelligible) but his sister embraces it. We have told her to remember her audience. Don't use shorthand when writing to her teachers, for example. What she texts to her friends....eh. Let them figure it out.

I'm not upset by spelling or grammar check. I think it's a good tool and like any tool needs to be used with a little common sense. If you let autocorrect fill in your text, you had better be reading for content before you send or expect it will show up online for others to laugh at.

I also think that people have made errors for years and years that we didn't notice as much because we kept to ourselves. We might laugh about a yard sale ad, but it was just local. Now it's national via the internet.

Personally, if someone couldn't spell but wanted to offer me a service, I'd look elsewhere unless they had amazing references. Your ad, your website, your business card - they all represent you and if it's your livelyhood, you had better check for errors! Even if YOU can't spell (my sister is horrible), have the brains to have someone look for you. I'm not asking for perfection, but I'm sure you've seen the ones that are just so horrible you wonder if they're really 12 years old.

I give people a lot of leeway on message boards, in emails, etc. However, if someone writes a question I need an Engima to decipher, I skip it. If you can't convey your question in anything approximating English, then I don't have time to figure it out.

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I admit that I don't answer quesions that are horribly mispelled and not writen logically, for the same reason. I figure, if I can't follow that persons logic, they wont be able to follow mine either.

I also admit to being ruined by spell check. I have had spell check my whole life, so, I am a mess on this site. I don't have the Google tool bar at work to check my spelling for me and I answer in a hurry, since I'm at work and often don't proof read. I always use the wrong there, thier, and they're. All this.........and I DO HAVE AN EDUCATION! I promise. B.S. in political science. So, for me, it's not a lack of education. It's pure d laziness!

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I live in an area that has great school system (waukesha, wi) and we are sending my daughter to a private Christian school. We are doing this so she gets the best education she can with God's Word apart of her schooling. We vaule education highly and have started a college fund already so that the cost of college is lessened for when that time actaully comes.

At least in my area I have found that so many have a college education that to get ahead you need a masters now. It use to be great if you had a highschool education and you need a college education to get ahead.

It really varies from area to area. In general you can see that USA is no longer the top dog in education or as a nation. As of 2011 we are ranked 33rd for reading, 27th for math and 22nd for science... to me that clearly says that education is not doing so well in this nation. Who is to blame? Well parents, goverment and kids all have to do their part but in the end if the parents are not getting the kids to school, checking in on homework and kids realize that education is a must then there is little the goverment can do even if they provide top notch education.

As far as the speller checker, I should use it but I would have to copy and paste and some mistakes I do not figure out even after reading my post 2-3 times. We are human, we are not perfect. Also text speech, as I like to call it, has taken over. It drives my crazy and find it so petty as to why it needs to be used when not texting BUT I do not create posts saying as such. Trying my hardest to not be judgemental and I answer if I can as if I was talking to a friend.

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I'm with you ! I cant figure out how to use Spell check on Mamapedia and it drives me nuts (I'm very dependent on spellcheck) No, I would not let my child spend the day with someone with poor grammar at the age when they are just developing oral language. Absolutely Not. I do overlook grammar & spelling mistakes here. sometimes they are because English is not the person's first language, sometimes they just had poor teachers growing up (sad but not their fault)

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Because we have spell check, computers, cell phones, etc. we are all getting more unable to do things we did before, such as spell and remember. I get so upset when I can't remember how to spell a word or have to go find a phone number that I used to remember on my own. If I could write this in the text 'language' I would but so far I am avoiding that 'language and spelling'. It's a new world and those of us who love grammar are in the minority and doing things the 'right' way in writing is 'different' now but you can sure do your best to keep your own work proper. I think education is important but education today is not what it was when I was in school many many years ago. I think if you want that you do have to home school and teach what you think is important.

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I think you have to take into account, when it comes to this site, people (most caregivers) are typing quickly because time is of the essence. This site , let alone others like it, are not the best measure as to someone's intelligence or ability to compose a sentence. Like you, I also took the GED and felt for years that I was missing out on a "proper education." Therefore, I eventually went on to college and took more classes and began to educate myself as to what education meant for me. That said, it's important to realize that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. My weakness happens to be Math. I see your point but would argue that you can't equate someone's bad grammar/spelling to whether or not education is important.

I might also add that if I were asking your specific question, I would have checked my own grammar and the lack of commas used. :) :) Of course, I am making light of this as I truly don't find it offensive if someone has bad grammar or omits punctuation marks. Yet, education is important to me. However, I have learned that you can have an education but not necessarily be educated.

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This is kind of in the same ball park as your question, but I think that in a sense technology is making us "stupider". Spell check for example. When I was a kid hand writing if something was misspelled I had to figure out the error and look it up, erase it, and rewrite it. Now the misspelled words are auto corrected or when we do pull the spell check we don't even have to rewrite it correctly. Just click on the intended word and ta da! It's changed. I find I myself will misspell a word and not bother to correct it knowing I can grab it with spell check when I'm done.

I have to laugh at when the radio will ask a trivia question or name that tune. It's like okay, anyone can hop online and look it up. Makes it a little less fun. :-)

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I have noticed the increase in spelling errors. I agree with what both you and Tracy K said about needing questions to be intelligible. I, too, skip over things that have too much of a "doi" factor. It's bad enough when people are just stupid, but quite annoying to have adults intentionally write as if they are in the 7th grade or lower. I think that some people are stupid, which I don't hold against them because they probably are too stupid to even know they are-- I tend to feel sorry for those people-- not sorry enough to attempt to decipher their gibberish though. There are many people who claim to be well educated, yet completely suck at spelling even the simplest words. They are the ones who really concern me being that they have somehow earned legitimate college degrees. It makes no sense for educators to harp on proper spelling throughout elementary, middle and high school then, in college, it means nothing. So, I suppose people are really buying their degrees rather than actually earning them. As far as the people that feel that simply because they are on the internet they shouldn't have to spell properly--- that's ridiculous! Just because this is 'Mamapedia' doesn't render proper spelling pointless. That's ignorant. It's so easy to just spell it correctly if you REALLY know how as some claim. If you are uncertain of the spelling then, rather than write "sp?" and continue through life as a dummy, just look up the word(s) in any free online dictionary-- it is that simple!

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I think you are "right on". It is sad to see poor grammar and spelling, it DOES reflect on the person. I am also repulsed by hearing so much slang and swearing, then to read the "dumbed down" talk is even worse. People who repetitively use swear words in general conversation sound so ignorant. Improper spelling and grammatical errors show that ignorance. Recently I heard that some schools are not requiring students to learn cursive writing and they are not able to even read cursive. It is appropriate to use abbreviations but to "rewrite" the language is so demeaning and lowering standards perpetuates the problem........we are talking about the future. Language skills, writing skills, grammar and spelling should be priority in the learning process. Communication is everything.
I admire your advancement and self motivation to overcome obstacles and being so successful in raising your children. You did an eloquent job in explaining your thoughts! You are educated!!