A Welcome Return to Basics . . . Maybe

Along with other districts, Richardson ISD is responding to new standards set by the State Board of Education and is changing the way it teaches grammar. Perhaps more accurately than "changing," it's "adding" grammar to its curriculum. The district is returning to the tried and true ways of the past -- specific grammar instruction at specific grade levels.

It's sad, but Richardson teachers asked for instruction in grammar. "We are of a generation where grammar was not a focus in our education," said Elsie Nash, an English teacher at Richardson High School. Yet here she is teaching English!

I'm a bit concerned about how much the Richardson teachers learned in the recent seminar they attended. Deborah Goodwin, who says she has a passion for the intricate details of grammar, was the instructor. Speaking of the TAKS, she said, "The only way a child would be penalized is if their conventions were so bad that it impeded the reader's understanding." Passion for detail? "A child" is singular, so the proper possessive pronoun is "him" or "her" -- not "their." "Their conventions" is plural, so the proper pronoun is "they" -- not "it."

How are our students to learn if their teachers' teachers don't know the material?

"Mission to modify grammar." The Dallas Morning News; January 15, 2011; p. 1B.