Did you read Darren Greninger's guest editorial in today's Courier News? It was all about writing. The main point was that although corporations frequently complain about the writing skills of recent graduates, corporate writing is about as bad as it gets.
Too many catchphrases, too much marketing speak - it's all "mission statements", "reengineering", "defining core values", and "thinking outside the box". Greninger asserts that this kind of writing, when it creeps into our everyday life, does real harm to our language.
I absolutely agree. I spent many years working in an office setting with people who could barely put three words together - and they covered their lack of skill with typical 90s office jargon. As a person who cares about English, it was tough to work there. I would literally cringe reading memos, and later, email. It got so bad that I took to making anonymous corrections and slipping them into co-workers in-boxes.
I don't know where some of my former managers learned to write, but I'm sure they could have used the services of Hillsborough High School's new Writing Center. Conceived well before I was on the Board, the Writing Center is a place for students to get help with any and all of their High School writing - not just English, but History, Science, etc. Its mission is “to establish a rich and productive environment for writing”.
All in all, the Writing Center should prove to be a forward thinking strategic initiative for the efficient implementation of the tactical goals, through a wide-ranging service-orientated approach to achieving the desired outcomes in the core demographic!
Being the son and nephew of English teachers, I couldn't agree more. My Mother would say that bad grammar hurt her ears. I have to laugh sometimes when I'm in a meeting, listening to people hurl buzzwords at each other. The words sound important, but they're so empty and meaningless. Excuse me while I go foster synergy using best practices to achieve my end state.
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