Nitpicking

By Unteachable - 08/02/2017 06:00 - United States

Today, as a high school English teacher, I had to read submissions for a writing contest. The entries were filled with words like "irregardless", "could of", "acrost", and "ain't". These papers were supposedly written by the best students in the school. FML
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Top comments

tj4234 35

America has had a terrible education system for decades. It's not a new thing. If anything, it was improved under Obama.

113 21
stormy0307 16

I had one that demanded you write (sic) behind every quote. You only use (sic) after a quote or word if they used improper grammar and it's letting the reader know that improper phrase is exactly what the person said.

25 0

Comments

OhPuhleeze 23

Murrica! No wonder Trump is the President.

20 44
DickMySuck 0

Says the one who can't even spell "Murica" correctly, you ignorant prick.

9 29
Ashamed_Sister 60

According to Urban Dictionary "Murrica" is the pronunciation found in the Deep South, so it's not completely unknown.

18 0
Burle 17

I had a high school English teacher tell me that "mirth" isn't a word

25 2
stormy0307 16

I had one that demanded you write (sic) behind every quote. You only use (sic) after a quote or word if they used improper grammar and it's letting the reader know that improper phrase is exactly what the person said.

25 0
Cali 54

I had one who, during an exercise finding synonyms for "fancy", told me that "genteel" was incorrect and anti-semitic. Another one had never heard the phrase "brains over brawn". SMH.

0 0
Mightytall 35

Same everywhere ... proper spelling and grammar are a problem in just about any of the leading industrial nations. We've all gotten fat and lazy and can't be bothered to check the kids homework (or don't have time due to multiple jobs). And the approaches in some elementary schools, to write like you hear it, totally clash with what the kids are supposed to deliver later on in middle school and high school. (at least here in Germany)

15 3
chrauch 2

"Ain't" is used since the 18th or 17th century. "Acrost" since the 18th century in various dialects. "Irregardless" is a hundred years old and part of the "American's don't speak the queen's English" nonsense, wich doesn't make it a correct usage, but it's not that bad. "Could of" (and iregardless and any kind of straight incorrect and stupid term, and wheadonspeak / buffyspeak) is acceptable in written speech or first person perspective as it's used by the character to show their personality, level of education etc. Also in satire. And people wonder why bookworm me hated lit teachers...

40 23
flamingarrow59 21

Even if ain't is considered a word, you still aren't suppost to use conjunctions in papers

7 1
flamingarrow59 21

Even if ain't is considered a word, you still aren't suppost to use conjunctions in papers

2 1
SadiyaRabia 8

I blame social media. It's dumbing the minds of so many people, all the Internet shorthands.

11 14
ASLGabby 9

I read that texting and stuff on social media actually improves reading comprehension

0 1
Gromann 9

Of all the idiotic aspects of English - the fact that "ain't" is not considered a word yet selfie is is absurd. For some reason a language such as English as a living construct that adapts and conforms yet somehow this word that has been in common usage for the last 100+ years isn't "a word". My ass.

14 3
arandomperson97 18

The American education system is failing because kids don't care anymore and teachers make things about passing more than actually learning.

10 2
RichardPencil 30

It's just going to get worse. With Betsy DeVos installed as the queen of education, you can expect formal essays to be peppered with emojis.

16 3
sgdigaetano 3

Of course writing skills have become terrible. They haven't taught spelling, writing or language silks to the prospective teachers in college since the 1960s. I remember pointing out spelling and sentence errors, written by the teacher, to my daughters teacher in middle school. She just laughed and said "oh that's not important". What the hell - yes it is if you're the English teacher!!

9 3