February 6, 2010
Just a teacher…
So here’s the skinny:
I am a teacher in a relatively crappy school. I am constantly surprised by the lack of literacy in my classroom and school. We have boards and committees whose entire lives are dedicated to the legislation of literacy in the classroom, we are connected globally for the purpose of communication, and yet it makes communication “cheaper” and less profound. We live in an age of excess and disposability, and our language reflects it. For example, the picture in this post was something I took at my school. It is dry erase board marker on the bathroom wall.
Please note, the children cannot even spell “bitch” OR the name of their gang (pic below: read “cripe,” autocorrect “crips”) correctly. It shocks me to think that in this day of ipods, iphones, icans and iwills that the future generation resorts to glorified cave art on the wall of the communal “dumping grounds.”
Whether due to technology, the latent aftershock of integration, or the fact that English hasn’t had an upgrade since a bunch of entrepreneurs with printing presses in the 1700’s spewed out some grammar books, English is changing. The spelling, the grammar, and the mediums through which language travels are not respected; they are disposable.
Topher said,
March 12, 2010 at 5:11 am
Wait, did they actually use dry erase marker? That’s really considerate. Easy cleaning.