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Becky Parker
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| Posted: April 28 2011 at 8:52am | IP Logged
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The other night my dh and I were discussing goals for the kids for next year. My ds, now a junior at the local Catholic Highschool, was eavesdropping and said, "No disrespect mom, but don't waste so much time teaching all those writing mechanics." He went on to explain that his English teachers at school told the kids that they shouldn't worry about these things because the MLA rules change all the time and it's too hard to keep up with the changes. So the students should just write in a way that feels right. 
Now, I had never heard of the MLA so I looked it up. Sure enough it is a real association, but I really don't like the way the teachers are dealing with this issue.
Since I am always willing to be told I'm wrong   , would anyone care to address this issue? I'm not sure how to approach it, but telling my kids not to worry about it because the rules keep changing anyway just doesn't sound right!
Here's a link for the MLA.
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 28 2011 at 10:21am | IP Logged
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HERE is an interesting article that sort of sums up current educational attitudes about writing.
Suffice it to say, your children's teachers are wrong, imo, but their attitude is popular. Of course language is always changing, and some of the rules that have been traditionally taught are not proper rules at all. But learning to write according to the mechanics in the MLA handbook is better than not learning to write well at all!
You could probably get away with writing what "feels" right if you read and have read a ton of excellent literature. Seriously doubting that is the case with many high school students.
Writing properly and learning the mechanics (even the "rules" that are made to be broken) help teach clarity of thought and the ability to not just express but even to simply understand ones own thoughts. I had some TERRIBLE writing teachers in high school. TERRIBLE. No exaggeration.
I know it would be a hard balance to strike because you don't want to undermine your sons teachers. However, if it were not for my 10th and 12th grade teacher (same lady), I would have had ZERO legitimate writing instruction in high school. Fortunately, I read enough to realize that my 11th grade writing teacher's ideas were patently absurd and that my 9th grade teacher not only spoke using poor grammar but could barely grade a writing assignment. But I had many classmates who never learned better, and it is sad. All that to say, don't doubt yourself. If you think that what your sons teachers are teaching is bunk, it very well might be!
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stellamaris
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| Posted: April 28 2011 at 1:02pm | IP Logged
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I would recommend using the MLA guidelines since this seems to be what the colleges are using as well, especially their recommendations for annotating and footnoting a paper. However, just because the guidelines change is no reason to abandon writing mechanics!
First of all, the SAT does test mechanics. Secondly, even the most "relaxed" college professor WILL notice shabby mechanics and your child's grade will suffer accordingly. Thirdly, correct grammar, mechanics, and spelling are just plain considerate--why does the reader need to struggle to figure out what the writer is saying when it can be much clearer if it is correct?
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| He went on to explain that his English teachers at school told the kids that they shouldn't worry about these things because the MLA rules change all the time |
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These teachers' attitudes are short-sighted, unwise, and inconsiderate. The purpose of written language is not to make a student "feel right", and it is not always about "self-expression", either. Usually, written language is for the purpose of communicating information (even if that information is a storyline), and communication is like driving--if everyone doesn't follow the same rules, massive misunderstanding and tragic consequences ensue.
A student who knows the rules and follows them will also have an easier time of adjusting to new guidelines.
ETA: If you want a real eye-opener, read the book The NEA: A Trojan Horse in American, in which the author quotes a secular humanist source as saying that one of the goals of humanism is to undermine reading (and, correspondingly, writing) skills so that truth can not be communicated to the populace in general. It is a lot easier to confuse, fool, and lead people away from the truth if they can't read or understand what is being written. Don't mean to jump all over my soapbox here, but if you read current news articles, you will notice that the level of clarity and correctness of the writing is steadily deteriorating.
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Martha
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| Posted: April 28 2011 at 5:04pm | IP Logged
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The MLA rules DO change. Lots of things change. Goodness, 15 years ago, there was no such thing as a format for citing internet sources. Now we need that.
This is why we, and the most lucrative of publishing houses, all have reference resources. 
This site might help too.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: MLA?
