[Leica] RE: While it is happening (B. D. Colen)writing goingdwnhll

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Thanks, Dan... Boy, handwriting so good you never had to type? That is
some handwriting! (You ought to be a calligrapher on the side. :-))

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Dan Post
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 1:07 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] RE: While it is happening (B. D. Colen)writing
goingdwnhll


B.D.
rite-on! U da man!
It was obvious to me 34 years ago. I returned to college after a stint
in the service, and was told I had to take a course called English 105-
that it was required of all incoming students. It seems that not enough
students were taught how to use the libraries in their respective high
schools, so the college developed a mandatory course to teach the LC and
Dewey decimal systems to incoming students so they could use the library
facilities! I told them that I worked in a library my three years of
high school, and was not about to waste my time, or money for something
that ridiculous. I also remember later in life, painfully reading the
writing of my kids, and now my grandkids- from whom I find numerous
errors, even though their grades in English are high. I was surprised
when my grand-daughter who is now a rising senior informed me that she
didn't know what 'diagramming a sentence' meant. I try to help any way I
can, but it is as difficult to change the course of their schooling
after so many years, as it would be to change the course of a river that
had cut its path into the rock. I can say that my grandson will more
often pull out the Britannica Dictionary more often that trust the
spell-check! I have had younger people comment on my handwriting, and
they often ask if I am a calligrapher; no, I tell them, I was taught how
to write (remember the old Palmer method?) and that we actually had
handwriting instruction. I managed to get a BS and a BA, never typing a
paper since I wrote legibly.

I can say that among the newsgroups, this one has the singular
distinction of having the most literate and cogent member of any that I
visit- Hell, even the members for whom English is not their native
language are invariably more cogent, lucid, and understandable than a
lot of the native English speakers I run into daily. Even if you
discount the numerous authors and journalists on the list, the quality
of writing and communication in general here is astounding, and I agree
with BD, that even without a scientific study or a degree in the
scientific method, it seems obvious that the quality of education, as a
whole, and the children who are the product of that education are
slipping into a morass of mediocrity.

So, keep the faith, BD- You make sense more often than not!

Dan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
To: "'Leica Users Group'" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 10:45 AM
Subject: RE: [Leica] RE: While it is happening (B. D. Colen)writing
goingdwnhll


> Good Lord, Simon - do we now require scientific prove for statements 
> made on the LUG? I hope no one's told Brian, because if he becomes 
> aware of this new standard he's going to have to shut this bullshit 
> factory down so quickly we won't even be able to see it happening. ;-)
>
> But all kidding aside - First, let me say that I am speaking about 
> writing in America. And second, I believe that my statement reflects 
> the near universal opinion of those who observe such things. (And no, 
> I am not footnoting this statement.)
>
> B. D.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf 
> Of animal
> Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 10:11 AM
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Leica] RE: While it is happening (B. D. Colen)writing 
> goingdwnhll
>
>
> >
> > Now, as to the proliferation of writing tools improving writing...I 
> > think just the opposite may be true. While Email is probably causing

> > more people to communicate in writing, the quality of writing today 
> > has markedly deteriorated over that of a few decades ago, and 
> > appears to be going nowhere but downhill.
> >
> How can you prove such a statement?
> simon
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