Every day, students within Greeley West High send texts, spelling out multiple words using acronyms. Even more, students misuse homophones on a daily basis in their text messages, school assignments, and emails to teachers.

I, personally, have never found it difficult to differentiate between the different usages of words. I think this could be because I didn’t personally have my own cell phone until I was a bit older and had more experience in the grammar field at school.

Using the correct forms of “you’re” and “your” when speaking to people over the internet or text has always been important to me. As someone who always wants to be seen in a positive light, I have been caught at fault for putting on my unofficial “Grammar Police” badge every once in a while.

Although students and personal friends of mine don’t always understand the correct usages, it isn’t always their fault. A lot of the time the education system is at fault for not focusing enough on differentiating the words from a young age and making the right way to use the words effectively stick.

This plague is unfortunate, and genuinely upsets me at times knowing that growing minds are not helped the way they could be. Many essays and assignments that are assigned to students are graded, but not elaborated on enough when students do not grasp concepts correctly. 

Teachers have unfortunately almost completely dropped the method of marking papers when students hand in assignments or written answer tests. Many English teachers would rather quickly visit a rubric, check for errors, and be done with the assignment. 

The rubric process takes a much shorter time period than going through individual marks and explaining why they’re wrong. Yet, at the same time, students are given auto-correct and never have to worry about spelling things wrong on platforms such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word. This creates an issue because students are handed their spelling on a silver platter, considering most assignments are completely online now.

If we have auto correct why does it really matter? Why should it matter? The answer resides in personal gain.

The more confident students are in their writing, the better writers they become. When students are confident in writing, it creates better opportunities and opens new doors for their perception and skills. When students are given the correct tool box to understand and grow from their original mistakes, they become more intune with the academic world around them.

Maybe the loose hold Generation Z holds on grammar could become firm, but this also needs to be nurtured. Everyone can do their part, and so can you.