I heard a report on the news a few weeks ago, concerning exams in New Zealand. It seems the Department of Education will allow students to use texting 'shorthand' in their exams, provided they understand it and knowledge of the subject is demonstrated.

My understanding in class was I had to prove to the teacher I understood the course material. That my answers had to be comprehensible was a given.

Moving on to the business world, many people seem not to understand others form opinions of us from the clues we provide. Poor grammar signals unorganized thinking. There is a place for 'free thinkers', but in order to be effective members of a team, they have to successfully communicate their ideas.

In a medium such as the one we are using, we are greatly hampered in that we must present our message using only words and symbols.

Is it any wonder so many threads contain corrections and clarifications about previous posts?

I fear many crafts once practiced are lost.

Les

Legion, anyone whosent such an email to me would be spoken to about that. That's unacceptable. Dirty jokes and porn are more accemptable in the workplace than that kind of writing. Fortunately, in my last job, which required a lot of reading and writing, I worked with folks who were just as good at it as I think I am. My current job doesn't require so much written communication and 99% of the people I deal with are foreigners. But I cut them a little more slack and still, they're better English writers than many of us.