A student and I were going over a written assignment he had done.
"Your use of capital letters is a bit confused," I said.
"Huh?" he said.
"Well, you sometimes use them where you don't need to, for "tuberculosis" and "cancer," for example. But then you forget to capitalize the first letter of some sentences."
"Oh," he said.
"Do you ever ask a friend to proofread your work before you hand it in? Sometimes, it's difficult to see our own mistakes but another person can help."
"No," he said.
TECHNOLOGY TRAP?
I could blame it on texting. We usually blame writing problems on the latest technology.
For lots of cell phone users, CU LOL makes perfectly good sense, so maybe the texters have become sloppier about other forms of writing?
But I've got student papers that pre-date the cell phone, the computer — even some written with quills — that are full of writing errors. And I've seen many students who do a lot of texting who also produce error-free papers.
No. Texting isn't the cause.
Nor is it because teachers aren't teaching students how to write. Kids are still writing essays, and teachers are still reading and correcting them on Sunday afternoons. On Monday, the papers are returned, the lessons repeated, and a new batch assigned for the next weekend.
Then the students get to college and they begin sentences without capital letters and capitalize every disease they've ever heard of and wonder why someone suggests they proofread more carefully.
Even if writing is going to be their profession and they'll graduate soon, college teachers check on their writing.
Plattsburgh State journalism professor Dr. Ron Davis, our writing coach here at the Press-Republican, shared an assessment test used in the senior seminar for journalism majors. It covers the basics — subject/verb agreement (has or have?); case (who or whom?); verb forms (lead or led?); punctuation (is a coma needed?).
A separate test on word usage and spelling is also given.
But because he knows knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling doesn't stop journalists from making mistakes, Professor Davis shows his students some wonderful headline blunders, such as "Squad helps dog bite victim," and "Panda mating fails, veterinarian takes over."
Searching the Internet on my own for stupid headlines, I found many examples, some hilariously vulgar. But, like many things found on the Internet, I'm not sure they're true — there were no links to newspapers where these headlines supposedly appeared.
E-MAIL EXCUSES
All of this — students' poor writing and stupid headlines in spite of lots of instruction — suggests that not much has really changed.
But I do see technology's hand in one aspect of writing. My students send me many e-mails. They ask questions, make appointments, and, of course, offer excuses for absence from class.
Apparently, the Department of Health has not noticed that big assignments seem to coincide with a culling of the older generation in far-off places where memorial services will be held. Sad students must travel long distances for funerals that are not noted in obituaries, and for this reason, and only this reason, they cannot get their assignments done on time.
Why the Centers for Disease Control has not noticed this is beyond me.
Nor has anyone in the health services noticed the correlation between the onset of student illnesses and assignments. But students, thanks to technology, explain their absence for medical reasons, and all you can do is LOL: "I wasnt in class bc i ate my friends icecream that was in his fridge and got sick. I just thought i would tell you and if there is anything i need to do, it will get done."
Jerry McGovern, the Press-Republican's coordinator of Newspapers-in-Education, taught in New York state's public schools, and now teaches in the Communication Department of Plattsburgh State. He can be reached at gmcgovern@pressrepublican.com or 565-4126. This column is the opinion of the writer and not necessarily of this newspaper.
