Students failing because of Twitter, texting

I had a 98% final mark in grade 13 English in an Ontario High School - when I wrote this exam after acceptance into Waterloo, I ended up with a 60% mark - just enough to be called 'proficient' in English. I called the exam into question then (a loooooong time ago) and I guess things haven't changed much.

... and stark contrast to this study - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/educ ... 468351.stm

I believe this. The advent of students with cell phones in school was the advent of yet another distraction in the classroom.

The average Uni grad at our place can't spell for shit without a spell-checker. Even then they fail to spot things like 'break and enter' or the one that gave me a good laugh last week,' a member of the pubic'.

Really, the reports that I have to read are of a poor standard. Spelling, grammar and syntax errors are the norm. Those that stay at that level don't get promoted, nor do they deserve to.

I suppose that's good news for all of those spelling-bee kids from India who'll be managing North America before the end of the century.

I cann attest to this too. In the brief time I was teaching, I was just astounded by how poorly this upcoming generation can read and write. I don't think you can pin it just on Twitter and texting, but they sure as hell don't help.

And if I could have got away with it, I would have smashed every cell phone and iPod I saw.

At least most cell phones have a full keyboard now so they will hopefully stop talking with half words.

now we just need to build a massive satellite to disable all spell checkers! Mwa haha.

I have no problem with reading things like "cuz" or "b4" in my texts. I do have a problem with reading it anywhere else.

o rly?

i do think these websites are a problem , well more i see facebook being used by people my age when there in the library . i think it has become a major distraction for some but there is always going to be some webiste to distract people that age so its not really facebooks fault as much is people have short attention spans and into sites that always have soemthing new to look at like facebooks the newsfeed feature always has something new even though it may be news you don't care about . such as so and so are dating or so and so is going to such a party , it really isn't news just a distraction for some .

I rest my case.

Typed assignments should be banned prior to at least Grade 7 (no spell check on a sheet of loose leaf as I recall), and cell phones should be banned from the classrooms completely.

There's absolutely no need for either, and the long term benefits would far surpass the temporary outcry from the lazy students and the whining, bitching parents during the transition back to the "old ways".

IMO, gramar and spelling are less important than effective comunications.

Communications without proper grammar and spelling are less effective. That's a fact.