Congrats on the Grad Student.....
I'm not sure what the answer is but certainly part of it lies in getting the basic foundation while in secondary schools. Outside of traditional schooling I believe computers, text messaging, instant communications, slang, etc have all been contributors to the demise in our ability to use the written word in its proper sense.
Thanks!
My youngest daughter in first grade was subjected to that stupid reading to write a MA program from Dukakis. It was horrible as they were to use a computer to write and spelling didn't count. They would read the sentence even though you couldn't tell what it said. In Boerne we had a chance to opt out for our kids and I opted out so fast the principal called to ask me why and I told him you have enough trouble getting kids to spell words correctly without encouraging them to put anything on a piece of paper and read it like they know what it says. Next year, they cancelled the program since I was not the only parent got up in arms. Why a TX school put a MA program in is beyond me.