Grammar being taught in a high school class is indeed a rarity. In the article by Klose, he describes the lack of concentration on the simple rules of sentence structure. I must admit that at my high school, this was all to true. Teachers have lost a appreciation for teaching the proper form of writing. The task of teaching grammar becomes so arduous that most teachers try to skip teaching it and only require a rough introduction into literature, but they fail to realize that the basis of everything we can understand and gain from language comes from the basic understanding of how its structure. As far as I can recall, grammar was last a major part of the curriculum in the eighth grade. My junior high English teacher was Mrs. Sara C. Mrs. C made us breakdown sentences day and night, forcing us to learn the structure of formalized writing, which proved tedious task. For this I will be forever grateful to Mrs. C. It is because she took the time and energy to teach us grammar that we may have survived high school. When I entered the high school the introduction of literature and some vocabulary were the main focus of the teachers.

My first high school English course was taught by Mr. L, and about the only thing we learned that year was that S.H.I.T. was an acronym for Ship High In Transit and dealt with the movement of a sea craft through lock type canals. You can imagine how much my sense of the English language after that experience. There was not one paper, few tests, and basically if you wanted to cheat you bloody well could without reprimand.

The next teacher was Mr.J, after the healthy and full carrier of one year for Mr. L. Mr. J managed a great triumph in his reign. We read Romeo and Juliette and that was it. Mr. J did teach us about rudimentary grammar for two days so we could pass a state examination. Almost the entire class did miserably on it. Mr. J's term as English teacher was as short lived as Mr. L's.

Then came the bright spot of my high school English educational. Mrs. D had come back to her hometown to get away from the hectic journalism carrier she had in California and decided to teach at the high school. She introduced us to a wide range of literature that gave us a great deal of vocabulary knowledge, and she gave us creative projects, such as rewriting the Canterbury Tales into a more modern setting and language. However, grammar was by then supposed to basically be complete for our education. After we turned in our first papers, however, she was stunted with the barbarity in some of the grammar. Mrs. D did the best she could to point out our problems with writing, but by that time the demands for literature over grammar prevented her from concentrating on it.

If teachers started concentrating more on grammar and focused on literature towards the end of the high school education, students would be able to write with a level of competence greater than a chimp. But, as long as no one attempts the task, the degradation of language will continue to the point there will be no formalized form of writing.