In the United States, we live in an era where grammar and punctuation are no longer respected. In fact, today, many college students are unable to write in complete sentences. Yes, writing is not an easy task, nothing in life is; however, I find it pivotal for one to be able to write coherent and complete sentences.
At the end of the day, writing is a form of communication, and one must be able to comprehend what he or she reads. I am not a perfect writer, but I am aware of how important writing is, especially in college and the working world.
Based on my experience as a student, as well as a pre-service teacher, I can firmly argue that middle and high school students are not taught the grammar and punctuation they need to know. Not having sufficient knowledge of grammar and punctuation forces students to take remedial writing courses during their freshman year of college.
During the first semester of my freshman year, I took English 101 and English 002 concurrently. English 002 is a remedial writing course. While taking the course, I felt embarrassed, as well as began to compare myself to my friends, the students that were only taking English 101.
Two years later, I am no longer ashamed of taking the course, especially since today, I am able to compose well-written academic papers.
In college, professors expect their students to write well-written papers. In fact, professors take the importance of grammar and punctuation very seriously, and first-year college students only come to find out that they are poor writers when he or she receives a horrible grade on their first academic paper.
For that reason, I urge first-year students that struggle with writing to take a remedial writing course. The course will boost the student's confidence, especially when it comes to writing academic papers. I also highly recommend students to watch grammar and punctuation videos on YouTube.
In "Why Many College Students Never Learn How to Write Sentences," Maguire states: A few days of instruction cannot reverse years of positive reinforcement, via passing grades, for being ungrammatical.—this is true.
About two weeks ago, I decided to reread a few of my English papers, specifically the papers that I composed during my freshman year of high school. After reading them after all this time, I was in complete shock. The grammar and punctuation depicted in the paper is horrible. I received a passing grade for being ungrammatical.
Today, I question how I passed the majority of my high school courses. In fact, during my freshman and sophomore years, I do not recall learning about the importance of sentence structure or how to properly use a semicolon—until my junior and senior years.
In the future, as an English teacher, one of my ultimate goals is to make sure that my students leave my classroom understanding the importance of being a successful writer—having the basic knowledge of grammar and punctuation. I do not want to see my students begin their college careers as poor writers.
