Grammar: the Final Frontier

As a professor of English at Moorpark College and originator of the National Grammar Hot Line, I must strongly object to many of the comments made in the article (Jan. 3) about grammar in California Public Schools. I should mention first that we are receiving hundreds of calls weekly from around the world asking about the structure of English, punctuation, spelling; the list is too long to continue. Most of the calls, however, come from Americans with a minimum of a high school education. Certain points must be made about the importance of teaching formal grammar in English classes as early as possible in one’s education:

1. A knowledge of grammar imparts to one a security which then leads to ease in communicating. Therefore, grammar is not only an educational experience but a psychological one also.

2. The teaching of grammar itself is a dry process. The responsibility falls on the teacher to enliven the subject. This takes ingenuity and creativity. Many teachers lack these qualities; therefore, they too consider grammar dull and boring to teach as well as to learn.

3. Learning grammar is a process involving thinking and logic. It takes an expert to teach it. Many of our teachers know little more about the structure of language than their charges do. Too often, teachers do not or cannot answer their students’ questions, therefore causing frustration and boredom.

4. All foreign languages taught here are taught grammatically. English taught abroad is grammatically instructed. We are the only country where grammar is not highlighted, and we are the only major world power producing so many illiterates with high school and college diplomas.

5. Many, many students at the state university system are failing basic literacy tests which they must pass to receive their diplomas. This is ridiculous!

6. Any English teacher can ask a representative from industry to visit a classroom and speak of the necessity of proper language in the job world. This certainly will make the message loud and clear, a lot more so than reading a story and critiquing it. Kids today demand reality in school, not make-believe.

7. In the story concerning the teaching of grammar, I wonder how many readers picked out the major pronoun-antecedent mistake committed by one of the so-called expert teachers, who obviously does not know enough herself to speak properly. What kind of example is she/he setting for students?

We have produced a nation of illiterates. We have done this by undereducating our kids and not supporting the schools with involved parents who should have demanded high, not higher, standards. It is now time to be counted, to stand up and demand of the State of California that schools be launching pads, not escape hatches, for kids and for teachers.

MICHAEL STRUMPF

Woodland Hills