Grading Again

So I'm grading papers again.

It really amazes me that so many people can get into university without being able to put a coherent sentence together. Honestly, I thought that was one of the requirements. Don’t you have to write an entrance essay or something? Does anyone read them?

One of my friends asked if it was only the foreign students who couldn’t write well. I only wish it were that easy! Usually, I find that the foreign students, and even the recently immigrated, do much better on the technical aspects of papers. I assume it is because they know where their weaknesses are, and they work to correct them. That’s not to say there aren’t exceptions, of course.

The truly sad cases are the English-as-a-native-language-but-you-could’ve-fooled-me-crowd. Grammar apparently isn’t being taught anymore. In any case, it’s not being learned much anymore. And you’d think that if the students write their papers on their nice computers that a read wavy line under their words would interest them. It’s a spelling error! At least look at it! For god’s sake don’t just turn it in!