The Loss of Literacy in Modern America

[Swell Sundae]

I believe it is laziness, for television was created for a variety of purposes (Mainly for news and etc; am I allowed to use etc?). Computers for a similar purpose ( For work, etc). As for peers, I'm not really sure how they would be a cause. Genetics have nothing to do with this in my opinion, for we all write or speak in our own way, right? Laziness is the true culprit, born from boredom and stupid people who do not feel that writing out an entire word or sentence is worth their time. But that's just what I think.  

[mdarkcecil]

It's definatly laziness. All of my friends who "txt tlk" say they do it, because it's "faster" i.e. they're lazy.  

[Kairi_12]

I think the reason that literacy has gotten so bad in America is a combination of a few things. First--peer pressure/validation. I think a lot of people do it just because their friend or someone else does it. I guess to be 'cool' or 'original', you have to follow what everyone else does and be completely different doing it, right?

...yeah. Right.

Second--laziness. That has to be the biggest problem out of anything. Not only has America shown a lack of care for how they look and feel, but now it even has to show in the way they type. I find that to be the saddest thing in the world. Sure, people are dying in Iraq or something. Good for them for getting the hell out of the house. But people just sitting around in front of their computers can't find the decency to learn how to type?

Seriously.  

[Critical Cookies]

I find it sad that America is like this. People in real life had started using "lol", "omg", etc. I have also been sadly influenced by bad grammar from people here. Sometimes I think there needs to be grammar polices.. Yeah, it's that bad.  

[Bishielurfer]

I think it's a mixture of people being lazy and not so much peer validation as adult validation. So many authority figures (parents, teachers, etc.) don't speak/write properly themselves...how can we expect kids to use proper grammar if their parents go around talking like Southern third grade drop-outs and failing to correct their children? I've actually corrected both my parents and teachers alike (mostly out of compulsion). My dad always says "bath" instead of "bathe". =.=
"Why don't you bath the cats?"
"Because you can't 'bath' something."
It drives me nuts.
The computer does contribute to this in a way, as it promotes and enables the laziness that makes so few care about how they sound, but it really lies in the values kids are learning as they grow up. :  

[Population Tire]

I don't at all believe that television and computers have led to a loss of literacy in America; If they had, we would have seen this happening back in the early days of television, or the early days of computers. Perhaps we did, but I wasn't around to see it.

Actually, I don't think that there is a real loss of any kind going on. I think that literacy has never been a particularly strong point for any society. Looking back at History, we can see that we didn't have even rough set spellings of words until Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language," which set the standard for spelling back in 1755. Naturally, language has evolved, and there still weren't "true" set spellings until the 19th century.

In the most common sense, spelling and grammar are afterthoughts, complements to the spoken language. Sadly, this seems all too true as texting has taken hold, forcing abbreviations and misspellings so deeply into our society that it has spilled over into other aspects of our lives, suddenly making it acceptable to be an absolute idiot when it comes to grammar and spelling. It is not so much peer pressure as it is peer relaxation. Now, nobody can find the time to be literate.  

[Isadorana]

By the way, quotes don't work in signatures; nice try though.  

[Miss Harlot]

Well, on Monday, I was over at my cousin's house and she was on Myspace, "txt-tlkng" to a friend, I asked her why she was doing that and she just said that it's "faster" when really it takes the same amount of time to type it out CORRECTLY.  

[Farrago]

*rolls eyes* Why doesn't Gaia let people choose more than one answer? Laziness, stupidity, television. computers and peer pressure all influence children and adults to 'txt tlk' for the following reasons:

1. People are lazy. Children are lazy. Adults are lazy. Teenagers, elderly people, and babies are lazy. I'm lazy and I'll gladly admit it. Everyone has a bit of laziness in them, but there are some who are more so than others. That's one of the reasons I like this guild.

2. I can be pretty damn stupid, but I'm not like that all the time. One thing I pride myself on is my intelligence. (That and my modesty) I feel sorry for those kids who have no idea how to spell the word owe. One of my best friends was trying to figure that out, and I was heartbroken because she has really, truly wonderful ideas and views.

3. Television isn't worth deer crap these days. The best thing on there is the Discovery Channel, and even then, some of the time it's pretty difficult to find something good. All there is on my television is Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, and a whole bunch of shopping channels.

4. I like Gaia. I really do. That's why I'm not wearing noob clothes. (Sorry to y'all that are noobs) There are drawbacks, though, one of them being the fact that it's one of the most popular web sites in the world. On any popular site, there are those people who can't type. There are also those who can't type, but can code, so they're the ones who actually make all our favorite sites. The only reason they are literate, though, is because it attracts business allies. Luckily, Gaia is run by literate, or at least semi-literate people.

5. People can be and are really rude. That's why there are the popular people and the unpopular people. That's why there are dictators and wars. That's why there are the bullies and the bullied, the predator and the prey. That's a reason why 'txt tlk' is so popular. I used to 'txt tlk.' To tell the truth, I found it harder to 'txt tlk' than to spell things out. Nearly all of my friends are 'txt tlkrs' and I find it thoroughly disgusting. I told Hanna what I thought about it and she replied in 'txt.' "LOL! Yesh, that'sh funny!" No. That's not funny at all.

Well, that's my view.

 

[Orenia]

I'm going to take a completely different view on this subject. Yes, technology is making our kids illiterate, but our state education system may have something do to with it as well.

Back in the day, when my generation was their age, we had "Houghton Miller" readers where they were stories that were excerpts from real books. They were exciting, bright, colorful, and printed in age appropriate-font (i.e, not freaking small). We had separate books for worksheets and grammar exercises, which were also fun looking. I felt more engaged because the presentation of the content drew me in.

Now, just a mere 20 or so years later (I'm 27, by the way), I'm a substitute teacher. One day, I had to sub for a 5th/6th grade split class. They are using Open Court readers (used state-wide, apparently) where the stories are written very blandly and boringly. The pictures are in dark, bland colors and the text is in 10-12 font. They also come with vocabulary and grammar exercises. It's a scripted textbook series that is used throughout the Elementary grades because it meets the (CA) state standards. (Another rant I'll save for a more appropriate forum).

This series is the worst thing that can happen to our kids. I know that these books are used to meet the education standards our of schools, however, it's pretty clear to me that these books are designed to drain the love of learning the English language out of our kids. Heck, the teacher I subbed for told me that if the students were acting bad, they had to read this one story for PUNISHMENT. sweatdrop

Point is, the love of reading and writing is being destroyed by the use of these readers. Kids don't want to learn to read and write if this is all they are being exposed to at school.

PS: Thank God I'm a Music Teacher! I certainly wouldn't want to teach out of books like these on a regular basis.

Double PS: Sorry if I've offended any teachers that might be reading this, but this is how I feel about these books. stressed sweatdrop  

[Melantha007]

Subservient Nonentity

SonarP

Personally, myself..I think it's a list of contributing factors. For those who say it's video games, you might wanna check this out: http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21586833&page=1 . I'm a gamer-chick, and this is me just as I type. There are some things I do agree on and don't agree on...this is my story..a pictional song-poem-type-thing on how it all started. It'd place it in a guitar ballad. (SWEET! We get a story!).

At first, I was alone. But, I was cool.
I was even read the textbooks while I was in school.
Reading books under the sun,
it wasn't so much fun..
people didn't like the smart kid,
so I had to do what they did.
now i'm kool agin cuz i got frins
hoo dun give a car about sosiety.
they stopp3d c4r1n9 480u7 9r4d3s cuz th3y d1dn'7 937 9o0d 9r4d3s.
n0 1 31s3 c4r3d w3n w3 c0u1d us th3 1n73rn3t.
3v3ry1 31s3 1s d01n9 17, s0 y shud w3?

It's still in the works. :3 But I still think it's a whole bunch of factors...apathy, media, peer validation...the works. Maybe I'm not voicing it as well as I want, though.

Sadly, I can understand what you wrote.

Unfortunately, at the current age of nearly 27 I can't understand the leet portion of your poem... although the rest of it is great. Guess I'm just one of the backwards few who never learned text-talk. My parents didn't even get us an internet connection (and then it was dial-up!) until I was into my second year of high school. So I suppose I'm illiterate in that way. sweatdrop  

[Melantha007]

Crystal Lacrymosa

Yami no Hitokiri

It seems to me that job requirements are already quite stiff. Even a carpentry place takes those with a college degree over those with only a high school diploma. What the hell for? Why does one need a college degree to learn how to work with wood and tools?!

I myself tend to blame peer validation. Parents set their young child in front of a computer. The young child inevitably meets up with other young children, or older teenagers online. Thanks to the shitty public school systems, many kids can't spell worth s**t nowadays. Therefore these younger children are exposed to the stupidity and illiteracy of the older ones.

Or you might have a teen who's a very accurate speller but who wants to fit in when he chats online or on message boards, so he purposely uses "txt tlk" when he chats. I was guilty of this myself. I felt like everyone else was doing it, so why shouldn't I do it to fit in? I only stopped when I realized that I was making an a** of myself.

Well, that's my take on it.

That's a good way to put it. I went to a crappy high school, and the only class I liked was my senior english class because my teacher stressed the importance of proper spelling and grammar. He was the only teacher I really learned lessons I could use.

But it is really sad how people just don't care about spelling or grammar any more online, and not just online. I live in an area where you hear people saying stuff like:

"What up doe" and "I be going to the store wit my homies yo"

And hearing that type of speech makes me cringe...man I can't stand it!

I blame lack of caring on the problem. These people don't seem to mind that they are using poor grammar. It's a problem these days that just doesn't want to go away.

I must be really weird, then... MY favorite class in high school was choir! razz  

[Melantha007]

PrincessAraira333

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

That is one of my all-time favorite words of the English language!!! blaugh