LEND ME YOUR EAR: ENGLISH IS NOT A LOST CAUSE

When the first "Lend me your ear" column appeared in the Southeast Missourian in December 1972, a score of readers were quick to inform us that regardless of our good intentions, we would be fighting a losing battle.

Since then, more than 12 years have gone by, and efforts to preserve our language are still widespread. Adult readers tell us they find the Mini-Page so helpful, they often complete assignments geared to mini-readers. Repeated kudos to our publishers for placing the newspapers in local and area schools five days a week.

Some months ago, a segment on homophones was included in The Mini-Page. By coincidence, our column on homophones had just been published, and one long-time reader expressed surprise that none of her grade-school teachers had ever mentioned the term. Elementary school teachers of our era used "homonyms" to cover this division, though dictionaries have always listed "homophones" as a synonym for "homonyms." Perhaps Betty Debnam used the lesser-known word to encourage discussion. This is an excellent way to teach children to think.

The Tuesday issue of the Missourian also carries Mary Tomczyk's feature "Learning and Loving It," which promotes the elements of usage in delightfully creative ways. We of the old school are comforted to note that spelling is also still considered basic to education, though some schools have withdrawn from the national spelling bees as if spelling no longer matters, It matters to readers and writers even though Internet, I understand, is rife with misspellings.

Authorities on language demonstrate that poor spelling leaves bad impressions and shows disrespect for language and the self. In a recent Writer's Art column, nationally syndicated author James Kilpatrick wrote: "A poorly spelled letter is a gravy-stained tie."

Examples that follow this saucy metaphor indicate that misspellings can also lead to confusions in meaning and result in wrong interpretations. Is this the way to access the Information Highway?

In a Speak Out item in our Missourian on April 21, a concerned contributor suggested a fourth addition to the three R's-- responsibility. Let me thank this contributor warmly for expressing what was on my mind.

My thoughts, however, were of a Cape Girardeau Central High student who had just made headlines for having created a bomb. How he came by the information was a source of controversy, but to many of us, this is not the issue. We wonder why any responsible high school student would WANT to make a bomb. In our collective view, a sense of responsibility is the first requirement for learning anything.

Fortunately, reports from our schools indicate that our teachers and students are doing much that is right despite all the gloom and doom about what is wrong. For the most part, statistics show that Cape Girardeau local and county schools, public as well as private, rank above national averages, with a number of students receiving national or state awards, and scholarships to the best schools in the country.

Even in some of the smallest of Missouri's schools, an extraordinary amount of teaching and learning is taking place. Lately, we heard of an English teacher with national credits who had settled for a post in a deprived school district nearly 100 miles south of us. He had a burning desire to help youngsters most in need of a chance. After completing two highly rewarding years of a five-year contract, he was abruptly dismissed for refusing to use the new textbooks. The authors had replaced correct grammar and usage with standard equivocal substitutions throughout.

According to my young informant, the students and their parents were so infuriated by the unfair treatment of a teacher who was their only hope for a better future, "They kicked up such a fuss all hell broke loose." In nothing flat, the school board and superintendent reinstated the teacher, with the understanding that he could ignore the new textbooks and teach the only way he could.

His textbook? A dedicated teacher is his own textbook. The rules are in his mind and heart, and his love of learning is infectious.

~Aileen Lorberg is a language columnist for the Southeast Missourian