Who is to blame for the current poor grammar of many younger people?

Question

Is it teachers? Advertisers? Politicians?

Did your teachers teach you English grammar at school, including how to construct a sentence correctly?

(I'm curious as an English teacher.)

Answer 1

Texting.

Answer 2

Texting on mobile phones is causing a lot of the bad spelling and grammar.Have a look at how some of the questions are written.

Answer 3

Not sure why this is not in the Education area but...  I believe that certainly some teachers are to blame (many school districts are "stuck" with bad teachers because of teachers unions) but schools and, ultimately, we are to blame.  The majority of US citizens (including citizens who are parents) have not seen to it that schools receive the priority and funding that they deserve.  There is nothing more important to a society than the education of it's youth.  Grammar is only one example of where US schools have failed a lot of students.  

Answer 4

I believe young people themselves are solely responsible for their own mental laziness.

As a teacher you can show them how to do things - but if young people insist on doing things their own way merely because it's convenient, then they make themselves appear even more idiotic.

Answer 5

lots of things. the government for making the educational system in america so low

and the youths themselves for being lazy

Answer 6

Because you used the word CURRENT in your question,Frank is right.  I would venture to guess its the new cell phone text messaging. Also, "spell checker" on computers don't help kids learn. And, ghetto slang in "music" today is a real downer.

Teachers still have to uphold the state's laws in teaching. If they don't the get fired, or whatever. But, its up to the student to learn, too. These kids today have no incentive to learn the proper way to spell, to talk, to construct sentences. It reminds me of how I felt in 8th grade in a Pennsylvania country school where it was mandatory to take FRENCH!! I failed cause I couldn't have cared less about it. Why did some country girl need to learn French?  Why do kids today need to learn to spell when they have "spell check". See what I mean?

Answer 7

Many people say "texting" and "im-ing" is to blame, and yes, maybe it has something to do with it, but its not the downfall of my generations grammar skills. I'm 14, I text, and I instant message people, and I can also complete a sentence. I think a lot of the problem starts with some of the teachers. I know not all teachers are to blame, but majority of the teachers at my school, don't teach. Some just pop in a video and tells the class to watch it, while they go off and do whatever, and others just sit up at the front of the room and tell their whole life story and we never learn a thing! I had a teacher a few years ago, that did nothing but talk, by the end of the year, I could tell you more about her 5 husbands, and how she loved tomato sandwiches that I could about punctuation! Another variable could be that some students just don't have as much drive and ambition as others. I can talk and write properly because of my research outside of school. The stuff that is supposed to be taught to us in a class room, I have to learn through the internet, because the teachers sure aren't helping me! Another factor is that most teens have no time to be worried about grammar. You have to admit, that most of us, are always on the move. We wake up, go to school, then participate in extra curriculars, and by the time we get home, and attempt to do our homework, the day is over. And parents wonder why some of us are so cranky! We are under so much more stress than you guys were when you were younger! We have more stuff against us in the world, than we do for us. There's pressure for s*x and drugs and crime, and some of us just can't handle the pressure and end up pregnant, on crack, or behind bars.

Answer 8

I have pretty decent grammar. Then again, people tell me I'm a genius. I personally think my grammar sucks... haha, but that's in comparison to my other abilities. It's mostly  because I never really cared about grammar. It's not that big of a deal to me; as long as I can write sentences in a decent format and with some way to indicate exact meaning, then I think I'm fine.

Answer 9

poverty

Answer 10

they did, i can write perfectly, and i have good grammer i think, even tho in this case i am not, look at my "I's."