Judy Labby, Sales manager, Bellevue

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"Absolutely. I just think that kids are kind of pushed through the system without getting individual attention -- the attention that they need -- because of over-sized classrooms, or whatever. There are too many kids getting lost in the system. My daughter is a math teacher and she sees the ramifications. And I notice kids coming through the sporting goods store where I work and they don't have the grammar skills. There's a lot of jargon, but I get a lot of job applications and the spelling is incredible."

Edward Holcomb, Retired, Bellevue

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"Yes. They lack reading skills and writing skills. Grammar and spelling skills would be improved if they had more experience with both. I retired from Boeing as an engineering manager and I noticed that there's a lack of writing and composition skills... Two things that are a bonus now for people looking for a job are computer literacy and language literacy... The ability to write well is very rare. The ability to express yourself verbally is important, but the ability to do it in writing is more remembered."

Alvin Lofton, Financial specialist, Bellevue

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"To some extent, yes. I've had a child graduate from high school in the honors program and the grammar skills she lacked she made up in college... I think the emphasis in high school now is on how to communicate, but formal writing -- structure, grammar -- is being emphasized less than things like style and topics... People tend to expect too much out of schools and don't give them enough resources... Overall, as a parent, I'm pleased with what the schools are doing. And I like it that some high schools will not let kids participate in sports if their grades aren't up. I think that's impressive!"

John Martin, Cook, Bellevue

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"I think that it's far too general a question. I'm a recent high school graduate myself, and I know I have lots of grammar and spelling skills, as do most of the friends I graduated with. There are quite a few graduates who don't, because most of them learned English as a second language -- they learned English verbally, and not on paper... The criticism about high school graduates doesn't bother me because it doesn't apply to me. If people are really that concerned, they need to do something about it."

Doug Cameron, Programmer, Woodinville

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"I don't know many recent high school grads, but speaking from my own high school experience, they needed to emphasize writing more. And that was 17 or 18 years ago. I made a special effort to take grammar in college and the teacher was impressed, but she'd say, "You guys should have learned this stuff in junior high!"... The British, Scotch and Irish have incredible grammar skills. America is all pop culture... I'd like to see more basics in the schools and less of the touchy-feely stuff. Education is a big problem and I think they should spend more money."

Danny R. McClain, Security officer, Snoqualmie

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"Yes. Probably starting about 11 or 12 years ago, education just dropped. I noticed it when I graduated from high school in 1984 -- I noticed by the way they passed you through high school even if you had bad spelling skills and bad math skills. I notice it now when I apply for jobs... I wish that I could actually go back and take spelling and math courses because it's hard to make it through life nowadays without those two skills... The way some teachers teach, they don't care. The teachers who do care are the ones you can learn from."

Copyright © 1996 by the Bellevue, WA-based Journal American newspaper.

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