My bully pulpit to rail against anything and everything
How the SAT's are changing for the better. (Oh Yeah, I'm Back!)
Published on June 3, 2004 By voodoostation In Home & Family
In a news article released last week, of which I had heard of months before, the SAT tests will undergo some changes. For the better, as far as I'm concerned. There will be a new addition to the college entrance exam, one which many people will fear and loath. It concerns the use of English properly, and a writing utensil not containing keys. It will be a "raw writing" section. This involves essay style responses to questions. Scoring will be judged by style, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, the essentials of cohesive writing.
Penmanship in the last twenty years has become something of an ancient art. Remember the writing tablets for cursive writing? Can you make a cursive capital "Z"? How about your children? With computer labs flourishing in elementary schools and laptops issued to middle and high school students, actual, physical use of pen or pencil and paper is becoming a thing of the past. You wonder why the economy was in a tank? Bic and Weyerhauser and the smaller pen and paper companies had to downsize, ship out of the U.S., and retool for a CRT education style. All those trees that didn't become pencils or paper had to be removed by the large housing industry to make way for telephone, cable, and broadband lines. What a waste.
Grammer, two, seems to haf become a think of anchent lore. One of my many, many peeves is poor grammar. I blame it on the public school system. Wait, I went to public schools, damn it. Wait again, it was before computers wieghed less than me. I've heard there are websites that make a good living dealing in the antiquated storage methods known as books. Hell, I've heard of one or two children actually using this method to derive pleasure from such pagan and satanic verses as "Harry Potter" or "Lemony Snicket." Who must have taught these philosophers and voyeurs of humanity this old and simplistic art of "writing"? Teachers, dumbass, and damn good ones. A computer is a great tool, like a hammer, but you still must know the intricacies of carpentry to make your project safe and practical. This doesn't happen much anymore. There seems to be too much emphasis placed on standardized testing, dumbing down of students due to shifting parenting styles or lack thereof, liberal teaching, revisionist thinking and political correctness. This will not do. Tear down the wall, tear down the wall, tear down the wall.
I remember being very proud of my writing skills. I actually still use them to this day. Call me old fashioned, call me misoneistic, but don't call me late for dinner. I'm still proud I can write with a pen. It takes some talent, really. Pride is a good thing; it makes people do good things better. In this age of image where everyone writes like a doctor and spells that way too, good penmanship, grammar, spelling, and punctuation are still being judged by the old fogies who can still remember walking uphill six miles in the snow to go to their one room school to learn their alphabets and read from dirty, broken-spined tomes of Shakespeare and Wordsworth and the other talented ones who could use a pen and paper.
Spelling in the twenty-first century is atrocious. Even with the advent of spell check, the wrong spelling inevitably comes up. English is a tricky language, I give you that, but still, there are solutions for that. Apparently, "English" was the most skipped class in the U.S. I remember spelling and vocabulary in kindergarten, so what happened? Well, the internet happened, and so did instant messaging: compact, precise, nonsensical terms to speed the conversation along, abbreviations for everything, acronyms to define a conglomerate of words. I mean, Dr. Seuss would have had a field day with modern vocabulary had he not already had one that sounded much more intelligent.
Do you parents out there teach your brood? Other than how to roll a joint or fill out unemployment papers? I can't blame this on the teachers as much as I can blame it on you. You vote for the school board, who hires and fires these people. You raised these people; they became teachers and they can't teach. You don't want to hurt the stupid child's feelings, so your children teach to the stupid child and the not as stupid children as if they were. You don't check their homework, you don't take an active role in your kid's education, unless it catches your attention, or they screw up and get busted for wearing prostitute's dress to school. You prop your children up as figures of your wealth and accomplishment and damned be the one to point that out to you. DId you know winning isn't everything? Did you know sportmanship, on and off the playing field, is far more important to the growth of a child as a normal, polite, courteous human being than screaming and cursing at a little league game about a missed groundball? Probably not.
Studies have shown, and I so far have agreed, that music, basic art, and acting are integral to a child's education. They emphasize a lot of abstract thinking, rhythm, and subconscious mathematics. Music and arts are a catalyst for budding neurons that, like a little train, just want to show that they can. Singing, painting, and/or playing an instrument is a great form of self expression, not to mention a strengthening of coordination, balance, and muscles. It's also a release - from tension, stress, environment. It makes friends, it builds confidence, and it exercises the imagination. Exercise is good.
Thirty years ago, Harry Chapin sang a song, as most of you have heard it in one incarnation or another, about a man watching his son grow. If you people insist on keeping with your liberal "new-fangled" child rearing you will go to your graves with God whispering the lyrics in your ears.
My son turned ten just the other day,
He said, "Thanks for the ball dad, come on let's play."
"Can you teach me to throw." I said, "Not today,"
"I got a lot to do." He said, "That's o.k."
And he walked away but his smile never dimmed,
He said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah,"
"You know I'm gonna be like him."



Or, your child will go psycho on the antidepressants or attention disorder medication you have him/her on and kill you all. Good luck!

Comments
on Jun 03, 2004
Or, your child will go psycho on the antidepressants or attention disorder medication you have him/her on and kill you all. Good luck!


By the sounds of it, this is exactly what we deserve.

I must say that there is seldom a time when i agree with every damn thing contained within a post andI must say this is one of those times.

Bless your heart and its love of education, bless your bile and its hatred of education's antithesis.

Marco
on Jun 03, 2004
I've no hatred, but a desire for children and families to be their best.
on Jun 03, 2004

Wonderful article.  I gave you an 'insightful'....a thoroughly deserved 'insightful'.

on Jun 04, 2004
I have also noticed a decline in basic writing skills. While my penmanship probably leaves a lot to be desired, I am still able to write in such a way that most people can read it without any difficulty. That is, of course, assuming that they can read at all.

I prefer writing with paper and pen. I enjoy the tactile sensation of putting pen to paper and scrawling out my thoughts onto the page.

As for spelling, I have noticed a serious lack of spelling ability even amongst college graduates. I couldn't count the number of times I have found grossly misspelled words in the writings of 'educated' persons. These days, it seems looking up words in the dictionary is just too much bother.

While I am certainly no expert on english composition, I do make an attempt to craft cohesive sentences which follow the basic rules of grammer. Note I said "attempt". I am no strict grammarian and make no such claim. I am sure one could find glaring examples of violations of the basic rules in grammer in my writings, but I do at least make the attempt.

I do agree that writing is a very basic skill that should be better emphasized not only in our school systems, but in our general society.

I apologize for the lengthy reply. This is a very good article.