These first two
paragraphs of my book’s introduction introduce (obviously) one of the issues
that prompted me to write a Sarah Palin writing skills book:
I
teach English at a fashion college. In other words, my students have no idea
why they have to take my class, nor do they want
to take my class. They signed up to explore the world of fabric and sketches, not commas and semicolons. Therefore, on the
first day of class, I go in for the hard sell. I tell them that unless they
learn how to write clearly and concisely they will be doomed to a future of
styling their childhood Barbie doll instead of styling Taylor Swift for the
Grammys. I tell them that if they don’t learn how to properly employ a comma
or structure a sentence the only line they will play a role in creating is the
one in front of the unemployment office.
Okay,
I’m not that harsh, but I do remind my students that until they do actually
become the next Chanel and can afford to hire someone to write their website
copy, emails, and Facebook posts, they need to learn to communicate clearly,
concisely, and coherently. They need to support their points with concrete,
specific examples to prove that they are knowledgeable. They need to learn proper grammar because it
is often used as a barometer to measure intelligence and attention to detail,
and they’re going to need to convey those characteristics in their cover
letters and résumés.
Basically, I let them know that if they don’t learn to communicate clearly,
concisely, coherently, concretely, and correctly, they can’t hope to amount to
much— just, perhaps, the 2008 vice presidential candidate of the United States
of America.
And, of course,
it’s not just Sarah Palin who often fails to communicate clearly and correctly.
We had Dan Quayle’s “potatoe.” We had George W. Bush and his important
question: “Is our children learning?” And we currently have a president who
once composed a tweet that included this gem of a sentence: “If not, there
blood, sweat and tears was a total waist of time.” ("Waist of time" makes me think of the thin, middle part of the hourglass.)
So what do you think? If
U.S. presidents, vice presidents, and vice presidential nominees don’t employ
proper grammar, is it still fair to claim that it’s important for success?
When you see that kind of stuff, particularly from someone everyone knows is rich, it makes our battle a little tougher.
ReplyDeleteI always cringe when I see a big sign with a spelling error. Like a big, window-sized sign, "Resturant Coming Soon!" Of course, right after that I take a photo of it and post it on Facebook, with a sweet little comment like "How many chances for proofreading were missed before this was sent to the printer?"
ReplyDeleteI remember until recently, people flipped out when a President or Vice President messed up on spelling/grammar. It's sad to me that we're lowering the bar now. We should hold our leaders to top grammatical standards, I think.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem embarrassing when a political leader has those kind of spelling and grammatical issues in their tweets.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure all Trump supporters see nothing wrong with his sentence. And since Trump doesn't read books, we're lucky he spells anything right. lol Great post!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not in a position of power I do judge a person's capabilities by their ability to speak and write properly. Trump's tweeting will assist in his undoing.
ReplyDeleteI think seeing 'important' people making those ridiculous mistakes are a good way to point out that you don't want people to make fun of you that way. I empathize with you for teaching those reluctant students.
ReplyDeleteit's unpresidented
ReplyDeleteThe words we speak and write serve as primary means of presenting ourselves to the rest of the world. If we don't mind said words projecting ignorance and a lack of education, then I suppose spelling and grammar don't matter. What's horrifying is the general public's bar of expectation has lowered to such an extent, that ignorant-uneducated persona is now interpreted as an acceptable norm, as proof that the prez or vice-prez are "regular guys...just like us." UGH. Personally, I want our world leaders to be at LEAST as intelligent as I am. Ignorance isn't a turn-on, and shouldn't be an asset when it comes to success, so YES, I think spelling and grammar matter a helluva lot.
ReplyDeleteThere...their. Clearly he needs someone else to grammar check his tweets. lol
ReplyDeleteYes, we need to expect our leaders to be coherent and communicate, just as we should expect them to be compassionate and level-headed .
ReplyDeleteThose errors kind of make me ill
ReplyDeleteBit of an undertaking, but can you teach the rest of the Internet, too? I don't know if you've been to a comment section lately, but those things are where spelling and grammar go to die.
ReplyDelete