LEND ME YOUR EAR: FOUNDATION STILL NEEDED TO BUILD A HOUSE

According to the authors of "Kids Have All the Write Stuff", writing has nothing to do with grammar, spelling or punctuation. The authors, Sharon Edwards and Robert Malloy, purport to inspire children ages two to nine by letting them "scribble away, no matter what comes out on paper."

What else is new? Progressive Education, the idea that children should be allowed to develop without interference, found its roots in the philosophy of Jean Jacques Rousseau, a Frenchman who died in 1778. Rousseau's concept reached America at the end of the 19th century, and began to flower early in the 20th through the efforts of educator John Dewey. His methods have taken us through a number of disastrous revivals, all of which have resulted in Retrogressive Education.

Disregard for the basics of writing, as the American business world has made obvious in recent times, is the reason so many of our nation's young adults are unable to fill out the simplest forms, much less write acceptable letters of application.

"Writing is not about sitting down with a child and correcting his punctuation," Ms. Roberts maintains. (Whoever said it was?) "It's about telling stories and making up poems about enjoying something," the author elucidates.

Has it not occurred to the authors of this highly-touted guidebook that children enjoy learning? Moreover, most children are born story-tellers without any coaching from the sidelines and I've never known a primary-school teacher who discouraged imagination in a child. What's wrong with letting their charges in on how to put their stories down? Seize the moment and practice real progressive teaching!

Advice in this regard does not apply to pre-schoolers. Let the wee ones scribble to their teachers' content. But between ages six to nine school children should be learning discipline and the rudiments of grammar and writing. Learning is not a chore in these precious formative years not unless their parents and teachers keep pointing out how boring it is to do anything the old-fashioned way. Young minds are uncluttered and the world around them continues to be exciting, and every new task is fun. Waste these advantages in the early years, and it may be too late.

Did I hear someone say it's never too late to learn? True, but without the proper foundation, what happens to the house? To judge by what we hear over radio and TV, we have announcers who have not only failed grammar, they haven't even learned to read or pronounce words in common usage. Persecution for prosecution, contamants for contaminants in food, tenants for tenets, refuge for refuse, a sold-out for a sell-out: These are some of the mistakes that have come near ruining my breakfast, with the radio too close to my ear.

From my Chicago friend Helen Lange, a prize-winning poet in the days when poetry had form and meaning, comes a folder from Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs, celebrating the 10th anniversary of DIAL A POEM, 1991-92. First prize went to a poem selected for its "multi-stylistic tradition." Most of the lines are repeated, some three or four times. Following are excerpts from the beginning and closing lines.

Yes my friend we meet again

What is the news

The news is misery

My friend our troubles

How can we end them

When all is big promises

And all is empty mouth

This kind of misery leads to trouble

This kind of misery leads to suicide.

My friend Helen writes: "This is poetry?"

Only lately have we learned a new four-letter word. Don't drool. The word is "zine", pronounced ZEEN. A zine is an underground magazine published by the young, for the young, and I understand the number of zines in our country far exceeds the number of products falsely advertised as MADE IN AMERICA.

Up to now, no one has favored or insulted me with a copy of a zine. Are these underground productions written in teenage slang, or in some unknown underground teen journalese? Let us hope that all young American rebels, along with educators who practice the concept that it's a mortal sin to teach the English language, will recover from yet another revival of Progressive Education. Hands-on learning goes only so far in developing a child's potential. Education consists of so much more!