Re: health warning and RT

I guess you're grammarphobic? :). Let me dream out loud a bit.

Kids are perfectly capable of knowing all the basic rules of grammar by the time
they're 13. Let them get it all by then. Then starting in 8th, 9th grade, let's
have them focus on what they think and expressing that clearly, giving them good
reading to respond to and emphasizing good grammar as a tool for self expression
and not the goal of writing.

But maybe I'm kidding myself :).

Ever read what Gertrude Stein said about the comma?

Jim

"Matthew S. Mahoney" wrote:

> it was more of a high school thing, and i haven't encountered it at all in
> college, but my qualm remains with wondering how many students' abilities were
> squashed or forced back inside when grammar was crammed down thier throat? the
> vast majority of students' first writing experience comes in school, and if on
> thier first impression they see writing or english as a stringent and tedious
> discipline, most would surely be turned off.
>
> >===== Original Message From Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu> =====
> >That sounds like a H.S. thing to me, Matthew, more than a college thing,
> although
> >I'm sure it depends on which college you attend. Will teaches composition
> and he
> >has a completely different emphasis. I've read some composition theory and
> it all
> >tended to be a bit wary of a purely "grammarian" approach. I had one very,
> very
> >bright student once who was sooooo uptight about following the rules she
> almost
> >couldn't write -- or, at least, it stressed her too much. I told her to
> lighten
> >up. I told her that her ideas were more important than perfect grammar and
> >documentation in early stages. I told her any good copy editor can fix
> >grammatical mistakes (she seldom had any), but no one could give her her own
> good
> >ideas -- those she has to find for herself.
> >
> >Don't know if it helped much, but she got an A in my class :). One of maybe
> 2 or
> >3 that got an A. I hope that chilled her out a bit. She was a Princeton
> student
> >just taking a class or two at my college for whatever reason.
> >
> >RE: the Royal Tennenbaums --
> >
> >I thought Bill Murray did a pretty good job, but he didn't really seem to
> have
> >much of a part. He seemed like a stereotypical spineless academic/victim
> type
> >goofball. Okay, yeah, the scene where he lit up when the kid misplaced all
> his
> >blocks was a riot :).
> >
> >Gwyneth Paltrow's character was sooooo repressed and depressed in just about
> every
> >way possible that it was hard to like her. She did well being completely
> flat.
> >But I thought she really shone in the tent scene. I think she did the best
> she
> >could with the part she was given...
> >
> >What about Angelica Houston? I love her in just about everything I see her
> in.
> >This too.
> >
> >Jim
> >
> >"Matthew S. Mahoney" wrote:
> >
> >> load of mahoney?
> >>
> >> and, while i dont wish to start another thread, my objection is a venting
> of
> >> frustration against a grading system where grammar is assigned as much
> worth
> >> as content. i think it is precisely that objectivity that lends itself to
> such
> >> "popularity" and frequency among writers or teachers-its easy to get
> identify,
> >> and thus easy to master-but how many younger writers or students do we all
> >> know who worry needlessly about grammatical rules instead of being
> encouraged
> >> to fulfill their creative potential? and while i certainly understand the
> >> enormous change in meaning given the subtle placing of commas, etc, the
> >> scrutiny of those rules as a whole disgusts me.
> >>
> >> >===== Original Message From Matt Kozusko <mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu>
> >> =====
> >> >"Matthew S. Mahoney" wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> other symptoms include: appreciating material for intrinsic value, not
> >> petty
> >> >> and arbitrary grammatical rules.
> >> >
> >> >Ah, the separation of form and content! We've been through this load of
> >> >mahoney before. Anyway, "intrinsic value" is surely more "arbitrary" a
> >> >matter than grammar, which at least approaches objectivity.
> >> >
> >> >--
> >> >Il n'y a pas de hors texte,
> >> >
> >> >Matt
> >> >-
> >> >* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
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> >>
> >> " I would gladly trade all my friends for the company of children."
> >> -Albert Einstien
> >>
> >> Matthew S. Mahoney
> >> Station B 8209
> >> matthew.s.mahoney@vanderbilt.edu
> >>
> >> -
> >> * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
> >> * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
> >
> >-
> >* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
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>
> " I would gladly trade all my friends for the company of children."
> -Albert Einstien
>
> Matthew S. Mahoney
> Station B 8209
> matthew.s.mahoney@vanderbilt.edu

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Received on Wed Sep 4 15:19:27 2002