Comments on: I’ve Had Enough! Why Texting and Tweeting are not to blame for your kids poor English Skillz

By: Riley Forman

Riley Forman — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:54:26 +0000

my life story lol

By: Riley Forman

Riley Forman — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:54:26 +0000

my life story lol

By: jsloss

jsloss — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:35:46 +0000

Thanks for your comments, both of you.

@irak794 - I hear you. It moves an article, makes people talk, sells papers. It also contributes to slower adoption of these new tools due to fear and misinformation.

@Susanna Kelly - Thank you so much for taking the time to share your comments. I appreciate it. I understand the basics of your article, my problem is that the title doesn't look like it was put on the right article.

More students are failing the U of Waterloo grammar tests and some professors say more people are turning in inappropriate writing styles (emoticons and lolz included)

Where exactly does the twitter and texting come in? Is there a study or a quote you were referencing? Was this your editorial department shortening a Headline?

I guess I'm still left a little confused.

By: susanna kelley

susanna kelley — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:04:05 +0000

hi there jess. interesting thoughts above. there is real evidence in the article that the written language is being degraded amongst even the top 20 per cent of our population that go to university (U of Waterloo: language exams show 30% failure rate; Simon Fraser: 10% of students accepted can't take the mandatory “w” level writing courses they need to graduate without taking a “foundational” writing course first). what i suspect but do not have any proof of is that kids who are taught grammar properly in school do see texting, emoticons, etc. as a separate “language” and know when to use it/them and when they are inappropriate. it could well be that the ones who were not taught grammar properly in school are the ones who mix up the two “languages”, hence emoticons in letters of academic appeal. my own kids were taught grammar – with a lot of work and sweat and resources from my husband and i – and they write well for formal purposes while texting like crazy. in other words, twitter and texting may be degrading the use of the language, but only for those not taught grammar properly. hey, there's another story idea! thanks for reading my story and commenting on it – susanna kelley

By: irak794

irak794 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:10:35 +0000

I totally agree. People are always looking for something to blame. Her article barely mentions Twitter, and doesn't have much solid evidence to back up her accusations. I feel that people who blame the failures of our generation on things like Twitter, Facebook, and even violent video games, never really do have solid evidence to back them up, and we really just need to stop pointing the finger and whining about everything and start fixing the problems!