Re: On criticism

[ltrwritr@moscow.com (Mark Rounds)]

Mike

Thank you for standing up and being counted on this one.  This is a public
forum and everyone has a right to speak their minds, even if they misspell a
word here and there.  

As to the comment about how this plays at the university, I have a friend
there that does teach writing (surprise, surprise).  I doubt any of us could
survive her red pen unscathed ;-)  Yet she has been kind to me over the
years as I am dyslexic and has edited a number of scientific articles that I
have written and helped me publish them.  

An interesting note is that this ailment was diagnosed as mental retardation
in a private school and it was only in the public schools that I was able to
get the help I needed. 

This makes no statement pro or con on the issue of private vs public
education as the private school had a great music program and the public
school had the extra staff to really work with kids like me.  It says merely
that they are different with different focuses.

The public system does provide a safety net for those who can't afford or
are not served by the private education system.  The funding scheme for
public schools was a compromise developed over the years by our legislative
branch.  Is it perfect?  No, but it beats the heck out of other education
systems I have seen in my travels to Asia and Europe.

The advantage of our system is that if you can get together and pursuade
enough people that you have a good idea about changing it, you can.  Note
that the operative word is pursuade.  You can "win" all the arguments you
want by badgering people, calling them names, and playing all sorts of
debating tricks on them but at the end of the day, if you don't change how
they think, you are just annoying them and making it harder for you to be heard.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't be passionate about what you believe, just
remember that the other guy is too and grant him the same respect you feel
is your due.

Mark Rounds






At 10:27 AM 9/9/2002 -0700, curley@turbonet.com wrote:
>Those of you on this listserve who wonder if anyone 
>would want to hear from you--and especially  if you think 
>you don't spell well--please don't take Mr. Gibbs' criticism 
>of Mr. Davis to heart.  I would like to hear from you.  I 
>(and I believe most of the rest of us) won't be put off if you 
>misspell something or complete a grammatically-
>challenged sentence.  We'll pay attention and respond to 
>the content.
>Someone on the list earlier apologized for his or her petty 
>criticism of  a writer who made an "imply/infer" error.  I 
>had hoped the lesson would be taken to heart by others, 
>but apparently not by everyone.
>Please join the discussion regardless of your grammar 
>and spelling skill levels.
>Mike Curley
>
>
>
>
>On 9 Sep 02, at 1:41, Joshua Gibbs wrote:
>
>Date forwarded: 	Mon, 9 Sep 2002 01:42:19 -0700 (PDT)
>From:           	"Joshua Gibbs" <ridethesaintedrhythms@hotmail.com>
>To:             	<vision2020@moscow.com>
>Subject:        	On the letter by John Davis.
>Date sent:      	Mon, 9 Sep 2002 01:41:37 -0700
>Forwarded by:   	vision2020@moscow.com
>
>John Davis wrote
>
>> Oh, and on a final note, while some have gladly admitted
>> that they would gladly see the public school systems  torn
>> down, I, on the other hand, gladly admit that I would like
>> nothing better than to see these self-rightous 
>> 'privateers' quietly go away.
>
>You know, if you're going to say sophomoric things like
>this, then you're going to have to take criticisms like the
>one I'm going to give you. In your little defense of public
>schools, you misspelled the word "righteous." There's an 
>"E"
>between the "T" and the "O."
>
>> As a final note, I have for many years exercised the
>> recent suggestion to wait before sending out an email. . 
>> perhaps I waited too long.  
>
>And then again, maybe this is that new math stuff CNN 
>keeps
>talking about, or a result of the breakdown of formal rules
>of English, but in that top paragraph up there you say that
>you have reached a "final note," and then in the next
>paragraph you say *that* is your "final note." Inquiring
>minds want to know, which one is the real final note?  
>
>As for your idea that you might have waited too long to 
>send
>out the e-mail, I'm going to have to say you didn't.  I
>don't think you waited long enough- a spell check and 
>quick
>reread would have taken a few extra minutes.  
>
>Joshua GibbsGet more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer
>download : http://explorer.msn.com
>
>