Call me English Teacher.* Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me after graduation, I thought I would teach first year composition a little and see the educational world from the other side of the desk. Since making that first voyage, I have never ceased to teach writing in addition to whatever else I am doing. Year upon year I have devoted myself to improving other people's writing skills, to helping them express themselves better or achieve greater success in the classroom and in the workforce. From the front of the room, I declare that people will judge others by the quality of their writing. Oft have I repeated that to reluctant ears. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation.
Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before a grammar handbook, and ringing up the errors on every paper I read or write; and especially whenever my compulsive editing gets such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the hallway, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to re-think my priorities.
People do judge you, as a person, by the quality of your writing, but should they? Whenever I catch someone putting random vowels or double letters in the middle of "sep_rate" or writing "being that" instead of "because," or misusing homonyms such that "peace of mind" becomes "piece of mine," am I justified in discounting that person's intelligence, work ethic, and vital principles of being? Well, sure I am. But does it follow that I am not obliged to consider what (if anything) that person is trying to say? May I ignore ideas when they appear in clashing plaid, or when they wear socks with sandals or baggy jeans sliding down their backside? I pause in the act of knocking off yet another hat and say to myself, you may not! If you, KKT, are to live up to your lofty ideal of respecting persons because they are people and not because they are people educated to write and think and dress like you, you must pay attention to what they say as well as how they say it. That is my view.
Dear reader-of-my-blog, you need not remind me that quality of expression is closely tied to quality of thought, or that unclear writing usually muffles foggy thinking. I know this as well as any English teacher of uncertain years does. But when we read we strive to understand. That's what reading is. If we are committed to open and honest dialogue, we should pay attention to badly written ideas as well as to fluently expressed ones. Bad writers may have voices we should listen to. Go ahead and score off writers on account of their grammar, usage, and mechanics--I know I will not be able to resist--but when you're done with that, note what it was they were trying to say before you decide how and whether to respond.
Sail only a little ways into the restless Internet sea of blogs, discussions, comments, and viewpoints and you will discover that behind every wave floats a grim grammar patrol, taking aim at hapless souls who dare to offer their ideas, rants, dreams, or despair in leaky boats. This sniping often substitutes for the pistol and ball of honest argument. Attacking someone through the gaps in their writing defenses becomes a gleeful game. Almost anyone, regardless of their own level of skill with language, can sometimes identify the errors of others, and whack away at the knuckles of the unwary. Indeed, there is an error in this blog entry, which I leave in place to see who will pick it out and harpoon it.
With a philosophical flourish Ahab throws himself after his spear; I quietly take to blogging. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men and women in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the unexplored ocean of their own minds.
*This post is written in honor of Herman Melville, a writer of stunning talent and originality who, through his fiction writing, gave voice to many less literate than he.
No comments:
Post a Comment