I have a friend who is a professor in Queens College in NY, he asked me to read several essays from his students. These kids should never have made it to high school, never mind college.
“I have a friend who is a professor in Queens College in NY, he asked me to read several essays from his students. These kids should never have made it to high school, never mind college.”
A couple of years ago I set next to a lady on a plane who was grading some essays to pass her time. I glanced at them a few times and assumed they were high school level assignments from the presentation and general appearance. Some very sloppy. In talking with her I learned she was a college English prof. I was shocked at what was being turned in to her as final, finished English papers. It was junior high/high school level work at best and in my days in college (not that long ago) I would have had such poor material rejected outright.
I can top that. A family member who, at the time, was a Chief Detective, let me read from a binder of police reports of his officers. I was astonished! These are legal documents that are often used and read in court. About 50% were written at a about a 4th or 5th grade level (I would guess). Phonetic spelling, run on sentences, past and present tense conflicts, improper punctuation, no punctuation, all caps and things that make no sense at all. I told the Chief, "I'd get fired if I published things written like this at work." He said many of those have been re-written already.
Harvard Law educated woman interviewed on NBC during the Zimmerman flap used the word “posta” instead of “supposed to.” My 10th grade drop-out neighbor does the same.