"Never before have so many written so much to be read by so few."

I will write about anything that disturbs me, concerns me, scares me, puzzles me or makes me laugh. I hope to be able to educate regularly, and entertain most of the time.

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Saturday, February 21, 2015

I Kind of Think You Guys, Like Should Read This


Last week I watched dozens of videos of educators making presentations to their colleagues and superiors. While I cannot reveal anything about the assignment itself, I would like to pontificate on a topic I care about a great deal.
I know language must evolve. If it doesn’t, it will die just as Latin died. However, I contend that language must not change so quickly that significant portions of the population cannot adequately communicate. It has taken many years for the old rule about not ending a sentence with a preposition to fade away. While there are still language sticklers who will never let that rule go, we need only observe how the vast majority of English language speakers ignore the rule to conclude that it no longer applies in common communication. The important point here is that the change occurred over a significantly long period of time, resulting in no degradation of the quality of communication, which after all, is the point of language rules. Here is an example of what this rule refers to. Technically, I should have written, “Here is an example to which this rule refers.”  Sentences are not supposed to end with to, with, at, onto, under, above and many other words called prepositions. Winston Churchill is purported to have said something similar to, “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”  If he had used the common language of our current generation, he might have said, “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something I will not put up with,” thus ending his sentence with a preposition. Which sounds more natural to us today?  Which aides in communication, and which hinders communication?  Remember, clear communication is our goal.
This past week I was amazed at how quickly our language has devolved. While I expect the rules of grammar to be severely altered by the common man speaking to friends in an informal setting (I ignore many formal rules myself in such situations), I expect educators and other professionals to hold the line on most basic rules of communication, and to demonstrate the correct use of language to communicate to colleagues who should share the same goal of retarding the speed of language evolution in order to enhance understanding among the largest possible audience. This is not what I found in the videos I watched. Here are just a few of the most glaring examples.
                “I kind of want my students to be able to read at the appropriate level before they leave my class.”  “Kind of”?  You don’t actually want your students to be able to achieve this goal?  I wish I had counted how many times I heard these two words used. When I hear something like that, I assume this person lacks the conviction to reach her goal of teaching students to read. She is not sure if that is what she desires or not. I heard this phrase used in technical contexts. “When you login, you have to kind of use the password you set up.”  This is just laziness. If we don’t put out the effort to gain control of our speech patterns, we shouldn’t be surprised when other people misunderstand us, or when a potential employer decides he would rather hire a person who is more understandable.
“I put the cursor here and, like, click on this button, and it, like, brings up this window.”  What are we becoming, a nation of valley girls?  If you don’t understand that reference, it is because you are too young to remember when this horrible habit of using “like” as a comma or in place of “umm” was born. And, if you don’t understand the reference, I shouldn’t have used it, because a good communicator needs to communicate with his entire audience. When a person, especially a professional educator, exhibits an irritating habit such as this one, I stop listening. Communication cannot occur if a person is talking while nobody is listening.
“I think this is the most important aspect of teaching.”  What would convince you?  What would move you from the position of “thinking” it is the most important one to believing it is the most important one?  This habit is akin to the “kind of” one. When I think something is true, I retain some doubt. You may be able to sway me before I take the final plunge. When I believe something is true, I have already plunged into the pool and am lazily floating in the coolness of the water, comfortable with my situation. You won’t convince me of your devotion to an idea or ideal by telling me you think it is true.
“I feel like this new curriculum will really help our students.”  Wonderful. Your gut tells you we should enthusiastically stop doing what we have been doing for almost ten years and embrace an entirely new way of doing things. That’s good enough for me!  No, it is not good enough for me. I want to know that you have thoroughly examined the new curriculum, considering the type of students we have enrolled, the capacity of our staff, the cost of the transition, and the means by which we will measure the success or failure of the new curriculum. I want to know what you think and what you believe. I am not at all interested in what you feel in this situation.
“I’m glad you guys could be here today.”  Arghhhh!  I am a guy when I’m hanging out in the garage drinking a beer with my buddies. I am not a guy when I am attending a professional development meeting at an educational institution. I don’t even like being called a guy when I’m sitting in a restaurant. I know its use is intended to set a tone that is comfortable for everyone, but it has an opposite effect in many situations. If I am about to try to convince my superiors that it would be worth their time, effort, and expense to adopt a new program for our school or district, I need to convey respect, not familiarity. If you are a 22-year-old server in a restaurant, you should be concerned about showing some respect for your elders, especially if you wish a generous tip at the end of the evening. I am a mature, older stranger who may or may not wish to be your buddy. You can be friendly without degrading me by calling me a guy. I don’t care if you don’t call me “Sir,” though it wouldn’t bother me either. “Folks” would be fine as well, when I am with someone.
Words matter. They are our primary means of communicating our thoughts, beliefs and feelings to others. If we do not choose the words that carry the appropriate meanings, there will always be the possibility the listener will hear (or read and interpret) something we never intended to say. That is why I often require my friends, acquaintances and strangers I interact with on Facebook to define the main words they are using. I no longer trust anyone to properly use the English language. I can avoid a long, useless discussion about a disagreement that doesn’t actually exist if I can be sure the other person is applying the same definition to a word as I am.
          Looking back on this post, I can see that I have broken quite a few English language rules. I have transitioned to the new one-space-after-a-period rule.  I have improperly placed prepositions, split infinitives, used incomplete sentences, used contractions, included an incredibly long sentence, and have chosen to use the Oxford comma. The question you should ask is, “Do I understand what Tom is trying to communicate?”  If the answer is affirmative, I have used language to achieve its intended purpose. That is all I ask of anybody. Think about the implications of what you are saying or writing. Who, if anyone, will or will not understand?  Who will be so offended that they will not listen?  Who will not feel obligated to exert the effort necessary to figure out what I am trying to say?  What is the best way to use words to make sure the intended message is conveyed?  And if you are in a professional setting, please, please, please demonstrate a higher standard. By doing so, you will be a partner in slowing the evolution of our language to a manageable pace.