Wednesday Jan 25, 2006

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I started marking papers tonight and have decided that we really need to upgrade the graduation requirements for high school. Honestly, didn't you know the basic rules of grammar and how to properly cite sources when you entered university? These are first and second year university students and technically I could have half of them expelled for plagiarism simply because they fail to cite their sources. I think I'll just give them shitty grades and a stern lecture on footnotes and bibliographies though. A book on writing style should be mandatory reading for anyone entering university. I suppose I have to take into consideration the public school system they graduated from and do my part to better prepare them for upper level courses. It's just frustrating.

Edited to correct a grammatical error. wink Feel free to point out any that remain.
troglodyte:
I've been hearing this a lot from profs. Perhaps there should be more rigorous grammar instruction in high school? I don't remember doing much grammar at all past grade ten...there probably should be more...at least 20% of each level devoted to grammar, perhaps. At any rate, You can't force people to learn things that they don't really want to lean. If profs were more willing to dish out shitty grades for bad writing, students would have to shit or get off the pot, so to speak.

*There's still a spelling mistake! wink

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