Priorities

[ladysprite]

I received a vivid example today of just exactly how I differ from my coworkers. I should have realized this before - I read books, they read package inserts. They minored in Chemistry or French, I minored in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. But while those things give me an intellectual understanding, they don't quite drive the point home on a visceral level.

Our practice is part of a mentoring program with the local high school - students interested in learning more about animal care professions can apply to spend time shadowing the doctors, for class credit. Among other things, the potential students have to send in a little essay about what their interests are, and how they came to be interested, and suchlike.

We all passed the essays around and read them. The other doctors pointed out particularly cheerful bits of naivete and optimism. I pointed out run-on sentences. They cheered at personal anecdotes. I nearly gave myself hiccups when I found that one student ended a sentence with both a question mark and a period. They marveled at the student's interest, I marveled at the fact that, at some point in the essay, they all used the *SAME* *EXACT* *SENTENCE* to portray that interest. Funny, that....

They said that the students all seemed like fine prospects. I said that none of them should have been allowed out of eighth grade. They said I was too picky, and that this wasn't about little things like grammar.

I suppose I should feel old, but this goes beyond age. I feel archaic. And frustrated, and mildly tinged with concern at the thought of a world where grammar *is* a 'little thing.' I should probably start brushing up on my slang....

Comments

[mrpsyklops.livejournal.com]

I work in a field that is dependent on the ability of staff members to write clearly and well. An effective grant proposal requires a simple, understandable story of how the funds will be used and what the agency will accomplish. Community development partially depends on placing information and articles in newspapers, magazines, and on the 'Net. Yet when I interview for open positions, I frequently receive cover letters and resumes from college graduates (and even from individuals with graduate degrees) that are poorly written, or incoherent, or contain grammatical errors. Spell checking *has* cut down on the spelling errors....