Re: Deterioration of the English Language!

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Posted by Karen F on January 24, 2000 at 18:49:56:

In Reply to: Re: Deterioration of the English Language! posted by Nancy on January 15, 2000 at 12:36:46:

:However, your point begs the next question: What are the skills vital for the next decade and how and where are they going to be taught?:

I agree; the high schools should be teaching more advanced skills to their students, or at least make them available. In our high school, any student can go to the vocational-technical [vo-tech] school and take computer classes. This is encouraging. If the kid chooses not to take vo-tech classes, then parents can take the time to tutor/teach computer skills to their kids at home on their computers, or they can learn from their friends.

I'm self-taught, however, there are a lot of local community colleges that offer these skills in evening courses, if the kids didn't get the training at school.

Unfortunately, a lot of public school systems are kind of caught in a bind [or so they'll say]. They cry that they need more funding to provide the tools & equipment but when the issues come up relative to increased taxes to gain these funds, the same parents that are complaining that their kids aren't being taught will also vote down tax increases. Catch-22 for the schools in that respect.

Also, there are a lot of kids who just plain don't care to learn in school, then they wonder why their skills are below average. Go figure.

: The only point I really take issue with is your perspective on the need for language skills in the general labor industry. I believe everyone graduating from high school should have mastery of a basic level of reading, writing and math. That's another soapbox... I'll defer to the comments of anyone wanting to take it from here...

The key phrase here is "should have" mastery...
I've met a lot of otherwise educated people who lack basic levels in grammar and writing. Laziness? Could be. You can tell a lot by just browsing employment applications. For instance, would you hire an office clerk who couldn't correctly spell "office" or "clerk?" LOL

tcg

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: :However, your point begs the next question: What are the skills vital for the next decade and how and where are they going to be taught?: : I agree; the high schools should be teaching more advanced skills to their students, or at least make them available. In our high school, any student can go to the vocational-technical [vo-tech] school and take computer classes. This is encouraging. If the kid chooses not to take vo-tech classes, then parents can take the time to tutor/teach computer skills to their kids at home on their computers, or they can learn from their friends. : I'm self-taught, however, there are a lot of local community colleges that offer these skills in evening courses, if the kids didn't get the training at school. : Unfortunately, a lot of public school systems are kind of caught in a bind [or so they'll say]. They cry that they need more funding to provide the tools & equipment but when the issues come up relative to increased taxes to gain these funds, the same parents that are complaining that their kids aren't being taught will also vote down tax increases. Catch-22 for the schools in that respect. : Also, there are a lot of kids who just plain don't care to learn in school, then they wonder why their skills are below average. Go figure. : : : The only point I really take issue with is your perspective on the need for language skills in the general labor industry. I believe everyone graduating from high school should have mastery of a basic level of reading, writing and math. That's another soapbox... I'll defer to the comments of anyone wanting to take it from here... : The key phrase here is "should have" mastery... : I've met a lot of otherwise educated people who lack basic levels in grammar and writing. Laziness? Could be. You can tell a lot by just browsing employment applications. For instance, would you hire an office clerk who couldn't correctly spell "office" or "clerk?" LOL : tcg

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