Yesterday evening, our grandson and his girlfriend came to dinner. The young lady is one of the modern breed of youngsters, who are perfectly at ease with everyone – she must be it’s the second time she’s come to visit us in two weeks!
She is a teacher – and how refreshing it was to hear her say that she insists on good spelling and grammar – and how it annoys her that so many of her students don’t even know what the capital of Queensland is, let alone that Paris is the capital of France.
We in Oz do not have Winston the Dog Advertisement, but I have often wondered, when seeing it on UK TV, how many youngsters know who the ‘Real Winston’ was…
I found this article in today’s Daily Mail, and thought “Hurray” at last someone is speaking out…
Just when are we going to insist that ‘facts’ are more important than opinions.
Boadicea's Chariot 
My two young nieces are impeccably behaved, erudite, confident and as well-educated as one can expect these days, but their lack of what used to be called ‘general knowledge’ is frightening to an old fuddy-duddy like me. It’s not their fault – as you imply, Boadicea, it just isn’t taught any more. There again, I couldn’t name even one Lady Gagger record even though I’m told I heard several on the wireless during their stay, so perhaps it’s a question of perspective and what is deemed important these days. Let’s face it, we’re getting old. Sigh!
OZ
I always thought that Winston was a brand of cigarettes 😉
My father used to complain about how little the children of my generation knew. Unlike the school kids of his era, we were unable to recite large tracts of Roman poetry, endless historical dates, or works of literature. I argued that during the 42 years that separated our births, the world’s combined knowledge had increased exponentially and that we knew stuff that had not been invented, discovered or even contemplated in his day. Our studies were geared far more towards science and technology than the arts and classics that he had dominated in his day. But even considering history and the arts, we had to read books that had not been written when he was at school. We had to learn about history that were the current events of his day while the quantity of music, theatre and film available to us far exceeded that of his era. There were certainly many things I knew that he did not.
All that being said, I do think it is important to learn facts. I firmly believe that children’s brains are like sponges and that they can absorb huge amounts of information, like learning languages, far more easily than adults, without actually being able to work out why that information is necessary. Learning multiplication tables, wights and measures, poems old and new, historical dates, countries and their capitals, vocabulary etc etc may seem pointless when one is young, but it is excellent training for the brain and it does make life less confusing and easier to understand as one gets older. I suspect that I sometimes irritate Boadicea on some of her historical posts, when I recite childish poems relating to the Kings and Queens of England, but having learned them all as a child, including some of the main events that occurred in during their lives, I find that it makes it much easier to put English as well as European and colonial history, into perspective.
I have several Dutch friends who all speak 4 or 5 languages effortlessly, having learned them as children. Many British children balk at learning any foreign tongue, but if they were made to learn and if they were taught properly, I suspect Britain and its economy would benefit.
For the most part, I consider myself to have a pretty good general knowledge but, I recognise that in the fields of popular culture, and dare I say modern technology, I am getting left behind. However, while like OZ, I do not know any of her songs, I do know that the songstress to whom he refers does not spell her name like that. 😉
Quite so, Sipu. Children do indeed have minds like sponges and can pick up knowledge, languages for example, amazingly easily. As i struggle in my mid-fifties with my idiomatic Portuguese I could slap every little foreign smart-ass who grew up here and who learned the language in the playground.
Gagger? What was I thinking of? I must be going ga-ga. 🙂
OZ
Boadicea: there does seem to be some hope as a handful of younger people can spot the difference between education and simply warming up desks at school. There is a strong movement against PC pseudo-education, especially in the more conservative states. Even in California a number of immigrant educators are up in arms about low educational standards. (Some of my professors have been from Taiwan, Mexico, Germany, and the UK/Nigeria)
OZ: as you may know, of my friends is attempting to teach me her native language, Portuguese. She’s an experienced teacher, although she can’t help but to find my accent a bit amusing. Think of a German speaking Lusitanian Portuguese as taught by a Paulista. (A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, for those who don’t know)
Absolutely, Boadicea.
But I agree with Sipu, in some respects, my father always despaired of the younger generation and their (my) ignorance with respect to practically everything, although by today’s standards I think I had a reasonable education.
The first priority perhaps is to be able to differentiate between facts and opinion. This is pretty important these days when so much information on the Internet is presented as fact, when it is no such thing!
Yes, good spelling and grammar are not some sort of fancy nonsense as some would have us believe, they are an essential part of communication.
That said, the occasional typo and excruciating syntax error is understandable, I believe, but there is no need to make a career of it. 😉
I think I am getting worse rather than better, but I blame it on old age!
While I agree that there is more ‘knowledge’ to be learnt today than when I, or my parents went to school, there are some basic core facts that should be taught – simply for people to understand the world about them.
Sipu, you may not have been able recite endless tracts of Roman poetry – but at least you knew that the Romans existed and had poets! And I have no problems with any ‘pomes’ which aid the memory. 🙂
Christopher – Hmm! Continental Portuguese taught to a German native speaker by a Brazileira. An interesting combination to say the least, but you are a young chap and will cope admirably, I am sure, especially given your known flair for languages. My problem, as I joked with my teacher recently, is that she teaches me accent free, grammatically correct Portuguese (as spoken in Coimbra, the Oxford of Portugal and the lessons for which I pay good money), then I come back to the village which is like returning to Dooorrsettt or Zommersett.
OZ
OZ: I make do with what I have. After all, os Brasileiros outnumber the Portuguese by a factor of almost 19-1. I’m picking it up fairly quickly, and will start reading a book from Cape Verde in the original Portuguese soon. Your description of your Portuguese lessons reminds me of why I do not speak German with my boss, even though she’s also German. She speaks very standard, erudite Hoch Deutsch whereas my Hoch Deutsch is not much different from the vernacular language of Trier, comparable to an educated speaker of Oxford English speaking with a Brummie.