Recently there's been a bit of debate about grammar and its necessity. Given the prevalence of Internet Speak and how it's creeping into even professional work, some wonder whether to even teach it. Well... yeah, you should. Let me give you an example of something Ate Neneng said to me verbatim the other day: "Maybe raining, Ate Neneng she not come. Maybe not raining, Ate Neneng coming four o'clock." If you're going to say that language is only necessary for communication and the niceties aren't important, then everything Ate Neneng said to me was perfectly fine because I understood her statement completely. The grammar was atrocious, but the meaning was there.

Okay, okay, I'm being mean. I know most of this debate is crap like their / they're / there or how to use quotation marks properly, but I feel like it's still important to teach. On the internet often all I know about you is from your comments on a forum or your musings on a blog. As a human being I'm going to try to pick up any information I can about the other person whether consciously or not. If we were meeting in reality I would assess your appearance, body language, and vocal intonation, and make assumptions from there. On the internet my initial impression of you is actually not your message but your spelling and grammar. If I see "your a idiot," "mother's for gun control," or "who's child is this," I automatically conclude you're not well educated.

I'm not saying everyone should write like me in texts, Facebook, etc. That's your private life and you do whatever. I'm not offended. (Unless if you pull that l33t shit with me. I've actually stopped talking with people until they put it in Roman characters. I fail to see why you would type \/\/ instead of a goddamned W.) But you should be aware if your messages get out, a lot of people will judge you.

Ultimately that's why grammar should be taught in schools. Even if you're not doing it personally, at some point you'll have to write something professional. And again, that's people's first impression of you. Even if you're an expert on your subject, it's negated by the words you choose. All we can see is, "You're investments is in good hands." You have to demonstrate you have rudimentary education. I'm not asking people should know what an Oxford comma is, but to say that grammar knowledge is unimportant shows your lack of appreciation for proper communication.

Maybe we should just give our kids this.

They're releasing Harry Potter with new covers? Why the fuck would you do that to me?