I agree that it is part of the problem. Society today scares me. I was
getting some McFast Food the other day, and the kid behind the register
could ring up my order because he couldn't find the PICTURE of french fries
on the cash register. I pointed to them, and he said, "No, that doesn't look
like french fries." They had to put those registers in because the kids
couldn't recognize the pictures of numbers that are on standard registers!

Schools don't teach skills, they teach memorization and regurgitation. I was
lucky enough to have parents who taught me to think rather than to memorize.
(Must be why I like the HP e3000 so much.)

I'm just saddened by the fact that in a society with french fry buttons,
someone couldn't remember to push the button with the ABC on it.

Paul Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Jeff Woods
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2000 1:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: OT: communication skills (was: new look & feel for jazz)


At  09:50 AM 9/12/00, Paul Scott wrote:
>There is no excuse for this when spell and grammar checkers are built into
>just about every application today.

Actually, the profileration of spell-check and grammar checkers *is* the
excuse.  That's because they are part of the cause of the problem in the
same way that the proliferation of calculators (and to my horror when my
children were in elementary school a required school supply!) has lead to
no one under 30 seeming to be able to do basic arithmetic anymore.  Instead
of learning how words and numbers really work at a fundamental level,
people today only seem to learn how to press the buttons on their
too-complicated electronic systems.  Word processors are more dumbed-down
desktop publishing systems than word processors.  It's a sad state of
affairs and I don't have any solid answers... only concerns.  But it's
going to get a lot worse before it gets better, if it ever gets better.

--
Jeff Woods


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