As we increase our use of the internet, opening up a new world of information for all, I am deeply disturbed by a growing trend. The title of this blog entry uses the word "literacy" to describe the state of our education (or lack therof) in two particular areas: geography and grammar. I am beginning to wonder if, in these days of meeting the mark through standardized testing in our schools, we are losing some basic skills along the way. In this fast moving world of i-phones and apps, i-pads and laptops, I wonder why we are not becoming more literate instead of going in the other direction.
My first pet peeve regards geography. As a D.C. native, I grew up learning how the city was laid out using a logical grid system. The Capitol is the center of everything, with the city divided into four quadrants. The streets radiate out from the Capitol either alphabetically or numerically. The only thing that throws a monkey-wrench into all of this order is the layout of the avenues, which run diagonally. I think this is pretty logical. And what I tell visitors to this capital city is that if they get lost, find an intersection of a number street and an alphabetical street, and they should be able to guage where they are in the city.
I wonder how many people know the difference between the words "Capitol" and "capital". Since this is about literacy, I actually went online and looked up both to make sure that I had it right. For those who don't remember the difference, the Capitol is reserved for the actual building. Its synonym encompasses all of the other definitions of the word.
My real pet peeve comes when I have to provide my address to a live telephone operator, like when you are ordering something by mail order or even something as important as ordering checks. I happen to live on an alphabetical street, "S" street. For those of you who know Washington, you know that our alphabetical system starts with the letters of the alphabet and then moves on to two-syllable names, three-syllable, names, and then flower streets. Of course, there are a few exceptions thrown in. For example, there is no "Z" street and there are some anomolies such as Park Road or, of course, the avenues, which are named after states.
When I give my address, I specifically state that the street name is the letter "S". Invariably, the phone operator will read it back to me as "South" street. Sometimes I am gentle, and other times I am annoyed when I indicate that I did not say South, that I said the letter "S". It became even more vexing when it came to ordering checks. Apparently, the check company's computers will automatically convert my street name to the abbreviation for South, an "S" with a period after it. So, I am forced to talk with a live operator every time I order checks, instead of being able to use an automated system. What a pain!
You may ask why this really matters in the big scheme of things. For one, there actually is a South Street in Washington. I have never been on it, but it exists somewhere in Georgetown. What is even more puzzling is that the people who program the computers won't acknowledge this. Instead of changing the program to NOT put a period after the letter, thus turning my street name into an abbreviation, I am forced to function as an exception to the rule. I assume that those who live on N, W, or E Street also have this problem. We are a pretty good-size city. I don't understand, as the nation's capital, why we can't get the respect that we deserve and why we have this seemingly universal problem in the 21st century.
When I was in school, geography was one of our required courses. Not only did we learn about our own city, we learned about cities, states, the nation, and other countries. In my household, we subscribed to National Geographic magazine. It brought the world's geography alive in fascinating articles and spectacular photography. I still have the National Geographic globe that my father gave me when I was 9 years old. I know it is now out of date, and that the world has changed significantly. I wonder how many children now have globes. Even more troubling is that most of us as adults, myself included, don't seem to have a good way of keeping up with the ever-changing shift in world politics and new countries that have emerged. I know I could not name all of the current countries in Africa. And I would probably be hard-pressed to point out exactly where Uzbekistan is on the map. If you asked the average American some basic questions about geography, my bet is that most would draw a blank.
Grammar is another pet peeve. I recently gave up my daily subscription to the Washinton Post. Most of this was due to delivery issues, but I also was disturbed to see more and more grammatical errors. For example, I remember reading a headline that used the word "clambering" when they really meant "clamoring". How can an editor miss such a blatant error in a headline? I have also read run-on sentences, and sentences without verbs. As an avid reader, there is something wrong if I have to go back and re-read a paragraph or a sentence to understand what the author is saying. I am not a journalist, but I assume that most journalists have an extensive education in English. You can't write a good story unless you are literate. This should be a basic requirement.
Another example is how people will use the preposition "on" with the words "today", "yesterday", or "tomorrow". I find this particularly annoying. The word "mine" has suddenly sprouted an "s" on the end of it, in some people's vocabulary. I recently was listening to someone giving city council testimony. This was a person with a master's degree. His major grammatical faux pas was to say "drug through the mud" as opposed to "dragged". He also confused objective and subjective personal pronouns. I know this is a common mistake. I sometimes have to stop myself and break down the sentence to remember whether I need to use "I" or "me". Apparently, many people have never learned this simple trick. It says a lot about the state of our education if someone with an advanced degree does not know these things.
Maybe I am a snob, having been a product of a superior education. I don't mean to be. I think that every American should learn these things in school. In the world that now relies so heavily on the computer, maybe someone should think up some computer games that kids would play that teach them geography and grammar. If they were fun to play, maybe kids would actually use them. I also wonder how we compare to other countries in the world. Are other citizens just as lacking?
Several years ago, I read a book on Ebonics. It not only described this emerging language among African American youth, it also described a phenomenom that showed that students actually wanted to appear less intelligent so as to be more popular. This stretched across economic lines and included more affluent and educated African American students. Our educators and our education policymakers need to take a step back and look at what we really are, or are not, teaching our children. Literacy goes far beyond what is taught to secure good test results. We need to make sure we are giving our young people the tools to enjoy learning and to understand that there is no shame in being literate. Learning is a lifelong process that doesn't always occur in the classroom.
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