Tudays ileeterat yoof
Discussion
I apologize in advance, just need to vent about this. Not really expecting an in-depth discussion or an action plan to emerge.
Just finished editing some group coursework for my 2nd year uni program of international business. It had about 5k words, and I took upon myself the research and editing part, assuming I better leave the writing to native speakers. Boy was I wrong.
To put things in context, I was born in the USSR and raised in the Middle East. English is my 3rd language, and even though I've been learning it for 20 odd years I still use Google and spell check tools for practically anything I write, including forum posts. I started working early on and came to uni at age 29, so now I'm surrounded by kids ten years younger with whom I do the occasional group project.
In this latest group we had one person from Wales, a few from the north and one from south England. I expected this to be a quick cut&paste job to stitch their individual parts together into one legible story line, which should have taken about half an hour. Somehow ended up spending almost two hours extra correcting very basic spelling and grammar/syntax errors, mostly of the typical their/they're/there nature. My personal favourite was the recurring 'could of' (could have), which I'd never seen before and didn't even know was a thing! On top of that there was the general style of writing, as if it was a 1 am phone text, as well as tedious repetition of words in sentences like 'in the decision process of places we decided to choose this place as our decided place of choice'. FFS - did you even read this through before submitting??!!
I find it ironic that these people spend hours painstakingly compiling their Harvard-styled list of references, afraid to leave a comma out of place, and yet remain so oblivious to the very basic lack of language skills they display in the main text. How did they even get into uni to begin with? I know it's a Leeds uni, but still... So much for the sterling reputation of British higher ed.
And looking back to the part I highlighted above - these are f
king business students one year away from graduation! Is this how their emails and reports are going to look? Is 'best regards' about to be replaced with an LOL and an emoji?
As you say around here, 'we are not impressed'.
Just finished editing some group coursework for my 2nd year uni program of international business. It had about 5k words, and I took upon myself the research and editing part, assuming I better leave the writing to native speakers. Boy was I wrong.
To put things in context, I was born in the USSR and raised in the Middle East. English is my 3rd language, and even though I've been learning it for 20 odd years I still use Google and spell check tools for practically anything I write, including forum posts. I started working early on and came to uni at age 29, so now I'm surrounded by kids ten years younger with whom I do the occasional group project.
In this latest group we had one person from Wales, a few from the north and one from south England. I expected this to be a quick cut&paste job to stitch their individual parts together into one legible story line, which should have taken about half an hour. Somehow ended up spending almost two hours extra correcting very basic spelling and grammar/syntax errors, mostly of the typical their/they're/there nature. My personal favourite was the recurring 'could of' (could have), which I'd never seen before and didn't even know was a thing! On top of that there was the general style of writing, as if it was a 1 am phone text, as well as tedious repetition of words in sentences like 'in the decision process of places we decided to choose this place as our decided place of choice'. FFS - did you even read this through before submitting??!!
I find it ironic that these people spend hours painstakingly compiling their Harvard-styled list of references, afraid to leave a comma out of place, and yet remain so oblivious to the very basic lack of language skills they display in the main text. How did they even get into uni to begin with? I know it's a Leeds uni, but still... So much for the sterling reputation of British higher ed.
And looking back to the part I highlighted above - these are f
king business students one year away from graduation! Is this how their emails and reports are going to look? Is 'best regards' about to be replaced with an LOL and an emoji? As you say around here, 'we are not impressed'.
Don't even get me started on this...
Could of / would of etc
Allot
Could care less
And then there's the use of American terminology like trunk and hood.p which have been picked up from years of binge watching of trashy American TV shows.
'Gangasta speak' and text message abbreviations like m8 and ur being used in business emails.
I've taken to simply asking people if they are actually serious and then walking off. I can't be doing with it any more. These half wits actually cannot see what they are doing wrong and get all defensive when challenged.
Have a look in the 'one for the spelling police' thread if you want a real laugh...some pearlers in there.
I'm only 24. At work the people doing this are generally older than me. I don't know where it has all gone wrong. I wasn't particularly great at school either but I know how to rite fings all proper like.
Could of / would of etc
Allot
Could care less
And then there's the use of American terminology like trunk and hood.p which have been picked up from years of binge watching of trashy American TV shows.
'Gangasta speak' and text message abbreviations like m8 and ur being used in business emails.
I've taken to simply asking people if they are actually serious and then walking off. I can't be doing with it any more. These half wits actually cannot see what they are doing wrong and get all defensive when challenged.
Have a look in the 'one for the spelling police' thread if you want a real laugh...some pearlers in there.
I'm only 24. At work the people doing this are generally older than me. I don't know where it has all gone wrong. I wasn't particularly great at school either but I know how to rite fings all proper like.
As a man taking a break from writing his second dissertation in a few years by reading this thread, being around young students for 5 years now, it comes down to time.
A lot of what you are reading was typed in the wee hours, jacked up on caffeine and whatever ADHD medicine is in fashion now, a day or two before the deadline. Written once, read over maybe once in a panic and mainly skimmed for the wiggley red line or blue line to indicate where the mistakes are.
The referencing will be done by computer programs, search for the book or article and press the style you want it in. It will be good, writing probably not. I had kids getting the same grades as me, high 2.1's, I worked hard to get them if I am honest, and they are knocking this st out the evening before. Quite impressive really, but ask them to talk about what they have written a week later and they come up very very short.
What I have found out though for a £1000 and 3 weeks you can get a really good dissertation written for you that you can check over at stages and get them to amend. Uni is about getting the grades, that means playing the game, those that make the effort though stand out a mile.
I am ne of many that graduated with a 2.1 in History from the Royal Holloway that year, but i had to work hard for it and feel very proud of myself, for lots of my fellow grads it was just something they studied because they are expected to go to uni and need it to work in London somewhere. It was the same when I went to uni to do Business Studies in '98 as well.
A lot of what you are reading was typed in the wee hours, jacked up on caffeine and whatever ADHD medicine is in fashion now, a day or two before the deadline. Written once, read over maybe once in a panic and mainly skimmed for the wiggley red line or blue line to indicate where the mistakes are.
The referencing will be done by computer programs, search for the book or article and press the style you want it in. It will be good, writing probably not. I had kids getting the same grades as me, high 2.1's, I worked hard to get them if I am honest, and they are knocking this s
t out the evening before. Quite impressive really, but ask them to talk about what they have written a week later and they come up very very short.What I have found out though for a £1000 and 3 weeks you can get a really good dissertation written for you that you can check over at stages and get them to amend. Uni is about getting the grades, that means playing the game, those that make the effort though stand out a mile.
I am ne of many that graduated with a 2.1 in History from the Royal Holloway that year, but i had to work hard for it and feel very proud of myself, for lots of my fellow grads it was just something they studied because they are expected to go to uni and need it to work in London somewhere. It was the same when I went to uni to do Business Studies in '98 as well.
Edited by Tampon on Sunday 10th April 07:47
Tampon said:
I am ne of many that graduated with a 2.1 in History from the Royal Holloway that year, but i had to work hard for it and feel very proud of myself, for lots of my fellow grads it was just something they studied because they are expected to go to uni and need it to work in London somewhere. It was the same when I went to uni to do Business Studies in '98 as well.
Easy innit. 
)
I bet you feel really silly now 
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