Pupils banned from using 'text talk' in school

[Jazzy]

Pupils at Sheffield's Springs Academy have been ordered to stop using slang or text talk while at school to improve their job prospects.



Teachers introduced the policy to encourage their pupils, aged from 11 to 18, to use only standard English inside the school gates.



The trust that runs the academy said it wanted children to cut out slang words and phrases such as hiya and cheers in favour of the more correct good morning, goodbye or thank you.



Abbreviated forms of words have become popular with the rise of text messages and the social networking website Twitter in which the length of a message is restricted.



The trust said using standard English would give its 1,100 students, who study in a working class area of Sheffield, a better chance of impressing employers at interviews.



Kathy August, deputy chief executive of the United Learning Trust, said: We want to make sure that our youngsters are not just leaving school with the necessary A to Cs in GCSEs but that they also have a whole range of employability skills.



Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/educatio...ls-banned-from-using-text-talk-in-school.html



I totally agree with what this school is doing. What are your thoughts?

 

[Cranos]

That goes way too far. They're still kids, no need to make them sound like boring adults already or to make their lives even more hell at school. We used to talk like idiots back in high school, using all kinds of ridiculous words. Most of us have jobs already and the others are in college getting their master's degree. It's common sense that you don't greet your future boss with hiya. Honestly, anyone who is too stupid to understand the necessity to speak a more formal language in job interviews is not qualified for the job.

 

[Evil Eye]

Honestly, anyone who is too stupid to understand the necessity to speak a more formal language in job interviews is not qualified for the job.

Exactly.

That's not to say the school doesn't have a point... They are just overreacting.

 

[McConnaughay]

This is beyond sheer idiocy, taking it too far doesn't do justice to this atrocity. For the record, I'd like to think that I write and speak with relative eloquence. I'm striving to be an author, and have always took pride in my vastly populated vocabulary. So, I'm not just saying this for any reason profitable to me. This is horse shit! I'm annoyed whenever I come across an individual utilizing the word like excessively much like others, but never did I think that it was justifiable for there to be a legitimate rule against it. You can sugarcoat it, you can polish it, but this is censorship, and this polished turd is still a turd. This isn't even about an individual acting like an adult, this is about the teachers disgracing themselves. I just can't stand this idea, this idea that everybody needs to talk a certain way, to think a certain way, to be a certain way, especially when it's pressured. If the individuals know the situation to be serious, and not utilize words that bastardize what they're trying to get across, it's irrelevant what words they use elsewhere.

 

[DrLeftover]

There has to be a middle ground, but most likely, the school's administrators, like bureaucrats everywhere, will never find it.

 

[The Dragon Master]

In this case I agree with Smooth and Jazzy. It annoys me when people of my generation (or any) use text speak. People just sound like mindless idiots. I try to avoid using it when I can.

 

[The Dragon Master]

Out of curiosity, when can't you avoid it?

Conciously, I'll make an effort to not use it, but I might use it when it's early in the morning or after a bad nights sleep. That sort of time.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

This is an English academy and not some American public school. First of all, if the English can't promote and foster proper English in their schools then who can/will?

Secondly, academies I've seen are generally run like prep schools. They are strict in how they want their students to behave because they see every student's goal is to be a future scholar bound for university. They don't want to facilitate behaviors that will work against the goals and attitude of the school. If you are a student who does not want to follow their standard for behavior then leave the school. This was probably not the school for you to begin with.



Lastly, even if this was an American public school. I'd still agree with Smooth. You pay your tax dollars, make it go to something worth your while - like making sure we have a generation of students who can write properly.

 

[DrLeftover]

rofl

 

[Fatal Dawn]

What's up, Doc?

 

[DrLeftover]

The point was that there is a time and a place for text language.



I don't believe the educational environment is either.



However, to ban something oftentimes makes it irresistible.

 

[JasonBegheFanGirl]

I agree with Smooth and Jazzy on this one. I can't see where the point of using text talk in school is appropriate. I mean, why let your parents pay for your schooling, if you can't be bothered to use proper English? Text talk, in my mind, is just pure laziness!