I Ain't Got no Stapler

This morning on the train to Chicago, I was reading my homework for class tonight--Assessing Written Texts. (I realize that I waited until the last minute to do my homework--but the important thing is that I got it done.) The topic was something you can't get away from if you're a writing teacher--the great debate: do we teach mechanics or critical thinking? And if we teach both, how the heck are we supposed to do that in an hour and 20 minutes? I was of the opinion that most people advocate teaching expression through writing and letting the "correctness" come naturally, that the only writing teachers who still give vocabulary and spelling tests and require students to diagram sentences have one leg in a retirement condo.

I guess I was wrong. The reading made it clear that there are still advocates of the perscriptivist way of teaching grammar and the focus on correct usage in the composition classroom. What I found interesting, however, was the fact that these fans now tend to come from other disciplines. Is this because we've been doing something wrong by focusing more on opinions, emotions, and reactions than commas and capitalization? Or is it because mosts biologists still don't seem to understand why expressing one's self would be important?

Regardless, I have to say that my position on the matter is this: content trumps context. But context is of great importance! The student who wrote me the following one-line e-mail certainly showed a lack of understanding of her audience:

"I ain't got no stapler."

In addition, when I don't correct these students' mistakes, I feel like I'm letting them down in some way. They tell me they've come from four years of high school education that amounted to pushing them through for NCLB money. They don't know why their papers are always full of red marks and stamped with a "D." If we took just a few days and focused on just that, it would be boring, but would it help. It's like I tell my husband, "If you put off cleaning for a week, you'll be unhappy for a week. If you clean now, you'll be unhappy for about two hours."

One thing I know for sure is that I don't want to teach Charity a prescriptive grammar, so she's afraid to come up with her own words and constructions that just express what she wants to say more clearly! Sometimes, you just have to tell your friend, "I'm righter than you are." More correct sounds stuffy. And more right is awkward.

But I hope I never get an "I ain't got no stapler" e-mail from her!