As this seems to be a popular topic at the moment....

"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...
//snip//
Over the years, I had a number of students from other countries. They
almost invariably wrote beautiful English. Wish I could say that for
the natives. Some did, but not the majority.

Of course, the "foreign" students who showed up at Penn State were the
cream of the crop in their home countries. Nevertheless, their skill
was impressive.

vince

I've noticed similar things. I know a WASP with a liberal arts degree from
an Ivy League university who can't write worth a damn. And there's a fellow
named Patel here at the bank who one day said something to the effect of
"give me a couple of Chinese and a three guys from India and we'll show you
how to run a derivatives operation." Which is what we are doing, more and
more.

Really interesting implications.
Bob

I've noticed similar things. I know a WASP with a liberal arts degree from
an Ivy League university who can't write worth a damn.

Here's the explanation:

In grade and high school, teachers dare not flunk students, no matter
how badly they perform. Parent bitch at principals, or threaten to
sue, and pressure is put on teachers to give passing grades.

I've been told horror stories about this by several teachers.

In college, the basic English courses are taught by grad students, who
have more more important things to do than teach freshmen to write
well. They quickly learn that if they give their students good
grades, those students will not come to their offices for additional
help, or to complain about grades; and they will have more time to
work on their own theses, get their degrees, and start making money.

In other courses, teachers give multiple guess exams because they can
be graded by a machine, and because "It's not my job to teach
English."

"give me a couple of Chinese and a three guys from India and we'll show you
how to run a derivatives operation." Which is what we are doing, more and
more.

The definition of "terror" is: Walking into your math class and
seeing that all the other students are kids from Asia.

vince

"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...

The definition of "terror" is: Walking into your math class and
seeing that all the other students are kids from Asia.


Yeah. I get that as a teacher too.

--riverman