My two cents.

Well, I was hoping to have this blog done a few days ago but I never felt strong enough in my argument. I never felt that what I would say is original but I don't care. I am going to put my two cents in and leave it at that. So, why do most freshmen English students struggle with writing formal letters, essays, well pretty much anything is rather simple. They one don't read enough, two don't write enough, and three have never had it pressed upon them. Most high school English teachers are glad that they read a short story in class together, yet a lone have there students read on their own. It mainly starts with respect in the classroom. Teachers don't have the respect of the students and the parents would agree with there child before the agreed with the teacher, so they get no help there. Also, high school is more of a lets not fail anyone so let us make it as easy as possible to pass. Require very little and receive even less. Now, I know teachers try to help students out but they be a little bit to generous about things. So, each year they get worse. A teacher that taught rather well ten, even fifteen years ago, could not produce the same type of student these days just because of the laws put in place and the dumbing down of America. Yes most high school teachers aren't as good as they were many years ago because of the education system falling apart. What was a good education then, is now a great education. We are seeing the United States of America become stupider because people don't want to stand up and enforce things. The lack of leadership in schools is rather pathetic. No one wants to stand up for what is right. Most people don't even care and the ones that do are so few they can only do so much. America will be dumber then a third world country rather shortly if we don't fix it. I know as a high school student I didn't read a lot of the assigned books, and it shows in my writing. Also, the use of modern technology, computers, email, etc., don't help this poor writing. People use a lot of slang and also writers might be doing the same to meet the reading level. Considering the fact that a newspaper is written on an 8th grade reading level it makes you wonder what would happen if you published a newspaper that was written for a high school graduate reading level. Could people understand it and comprehend it? Just tonight I was playing a game of taboo. One girl had a rather large vocabulary and she could use it. She didn't just know it, but she could use it. A young girl in my ward, maybe 10 years old, would stand up and bear her testimony using words that I don't think your average high school student would understand. Was she a genius? No, she just read. Mainly, Harry Potter and fictional books. Nothing greater or grand. Not Moab Dick, or Waiting for Godot, or The Importance of being Earnest. Just fictional books. If everyone in this nation could just read a newspaper and understand it, it would help. Then the papers could write more indebted and at a higher reading level. Why can't people write formal with good taste? Well, they can't read, so they can't spell, so they don't even try to comprehend.