b4 IM u got 2 gramer/sppel chek

This aging New York Times article by Jennifer Lee addresses, I guess, a “widespread academic plague” of grammar problems involving using shorthand techniques in student writings. I couldn’t help to find in this article a lot of fire-throwing. Students are like, “You need to get with the times man,” while teachers are beating their students over their heads senselessly with a virtual ruler every five minutes. Of course, our writer here, Lee, makes it all sound incredibly neutral and friendly with her New York Times “I-AM-UNBIASED” journalist persona.

With all the blame laying in this article, there are several key points that must be brought out into the open. I’m here to do that: First of all, students obviously do not fully comprehend that bringing in on-line lingo into the classroom is not necessarily good. In the academic atmosphere, students have to adopt professionalism. Students will not be able to use that style of shorthand in professional setting. There appears to be a lack of understanding on the students part that an exam or paper assignment must be professional. If teachers continue to receive assignments like this, what they really need to do is to have several classroom sessions going over professional vs. informal writing. It’s incredibly apparent that some teachers never really laid down their expectations to students beforehand (I’m looking at you “Ms. Bova”).

Students, you are not free from guilt either. Can you really believe that the term “b4” is as acceptable as the version that’s in the dictionary–“before?” I’m sorry, but that’s ridiculous. It’s apparent that when some students are working on papers or exams, they really aren’t trying to do it well if they are “unconsciously” making “you” into “u.” Either the students are not adhering to the instructors notion that “you must proofread” or the instructor failed to teach anything at all about editing. It’s a common quote that “writing is 90% editing.”

There is a very obvious lack of connection between teacher and student, although our New York Times “unbiased” journalist here does point out that teachers are adapting and understanding the situation better now. Yeah, there is nothing wrong with scribbling scriptic code (“l8r, g2g, :), !!!!, #$%@, lol, lmao) in brainstorming activities. If it gets the juices going–do it. What it comes down to, instructors need to illustrate the idea of professionalism, editing, and students need to stop copping out and actually dedicate some time to EDITING.

I think this turned into a rant. Maybe it’s the English major in me. At any rate, g2g: Rant over. LOL! 😛