A lot of us attend university and other schools. SO I figure why not start a thread on how it’s going as far as school work. Maybe even offer help to anyone who might need it, scholastically, or encouragement.
I got an 86 in my Logic exam and ACED my Operating Systems exam today. I have one more Friday in C++ and I’m pretty sure I’m good.
If anyone needs help on computer classes, I’m pretty darned good and would be willing to help when time allows. I also minored in Journalism so would be willing to help you there too.
Hey we’re a community and I think it could be beneficial to all of us.
Human Sexuality was a great course. I took it my freshman year in the summer to get acclimated to school. God, do I wish I had phero’s in that class. 28 California sexy babes, 3 guys. I need to move back to Cali.
My school-week is pretty slow right now, but I have two tests next week before spring break: Investment and Mutual Fund Management, and International Risk Management.
I actually have 3 finals after spring break (bitches). Insurance Operations and Statutory Accounting, Corporate Finance, and Marketing Strategies.
Finance is my forte’ and is really becoming somewhat of a passion. If you guys need help with that, I’d be glad to help too!
Funny thing is, my original major was Journalism. I always excelled in writing back in grade school (even got some poetry published), but struggled in math. Somehow I ended up switching to Finance, and my math skills certainly got a lot better…though my writing skills aren’t quite up to par anymore (relative to my level of education anyway). I often wonder how much better my writing could have gotten, had I put as much effort into improving on that, as I do in learning my field of study now.
One of the biggest complaints that corporations have today is that when they hire newly graduated college students, they can’t write a complete and clear paragraph. They complain that before they can put these new hires to work, they have to provide additional training in remedial writing skills (including spelling). (That’s the companies saying that in surveys, not me! )
I be ann expart paragrafe persen and kan rite fulz paragrafes tat totely make abzoloot zense amd reely maik iti a oinseta cauz dat’s weer dey fitz 2dys salze forze wit de hasse wintargren at de artz muzeem.
Oh, I believe it. I don’t believe I personally know ANYONE who knows when to use “your” or “you’re”. Or “to” with or without the second o. Drives me crazy!
It’s not just the graduates that are having trouble. Employers are tripping up over the English language right, left and centre. I’ve seen ‘stationery’ spelt as ‘stationary’ in a company logo. Those words have a completely different meaning, and nobody caught it before it went up. If they’ve noticed, they’re not bothering to fix it.
Same goes for ‘confectionery’. I’ve seen it spelt as ‘confectionary’. They seem to have trouble with their vowels.
Another for Alseides. People are using ‘lose’ instead of ‘loose’, or vice versa. Drives me nuts!
I received a letter the other day from an insurance attorney. There were 15 misspellings of very common words. In this day where spell check programs are available almost everywhere it is truly not acceptable.
On the other hand using spell check can cause an individual while writing out a letter (almost unheard of) to not actually know how to spell. Sometimes the use of technology can be a hindrance if not used responsibly.
Another item of frustration in the professional world now seems to be common text/SMS and IM slang language cropping up in corporate emails and letters. It certainly does not promote a healthy corporate picture when you receive a letter of recognition thanking you 4 ur gr8 idea.
My friends and I, being a circle of uber-nerds, will use IM slang in conversation jokingly. That’s as far as it goes… I don’t think any of us use it when talking online, for that matter! Just in person. Strange world.
In terms of that insurance attorney, I don’t even know what to say. It really isn’t acceptable, especially when trying to paint a professional and respectable image. A typo here or there is forgivable, but fifteen misspellings… and of common words?
I definitely know where you’re coming from. I write a lot, so that could be to blame, but little things like this bother me. Choose and chose, too. Waaah!
There have been time that I have suggested to someone who was trying to present a more professional appearance that perhaps they could “tighten” up their (ya, there & their )writing skills. Their response was that that was the way they wrote, and that they didn’t “need no stinkin’ rules of grammar” (paraphrased from the movie with Humphrey Bogart " The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"). That people knew what they were saying and it didn’t matter.
Having been a student of business for the past couple of years and having had many, many friends go through this whole process with me, I can see first hand that there really is a lot to be desired in terms of properly equipping students with a respectable mastery of the English language. I’m the guy that everyone goes to to edit papers… sometimes I’ll write them for people if they really, really beg. It never fails to amuse me how bad some people are at writing.
I personally think that how well you write, is a direct reflection of how well you speak…and there are people I know who are close to graduation or who have already graduated that I honestly worry about.
I think a lot of the burden falls on our educational system. We really don’t put enough emphasis on teaching students how to write, and as a result how to SPEAK, well. Ah well.
I can get into a really creative session of “Ain’t It Awful” as much as the next guy.
Sigma – you might do a poll of your colleagues (at work, as well as in classes) and see how many can articulate the differences between ensure, assure, and insure.
It always amuses me to see the bewildered look on a business person’s face when they say they want to “insure success” and I ask them how much a failure is worth to them.
You would think a business person would know the difference between insure and ensure right?
lol ironically the slogan for my business fraternity is insuring your success. Its a business fraternity that focuses on risk management and insurance, so its an obvious play on words. Just kinda funny that you would make that comment.
It’s been a long time since I was in school, so I have a question. Do they still teach diagramming sentences as a normal part of English in Middle(Jr High) and High school??
I remember seeing them a lot in middle school, but not so much in high school. All of my English classes in high school focused more heavily on reading literature than actually learning grammar. The SAT’s did have a lot of grammatical problems though. The English classes I took at the college level were more heavily focused on developing rhetorical writing skills than grammar. Grammar classes at the high school and college that I went to were usually reserved for remedial English classes…taught to those who speak English as a second language (common here in Texas), or those who, for whatever reason, who aren’t proficient enough in proper English.
That’s one difference, when I was in High School, we had to do a lot of writing as well as reading (about 50/50). Also, in the other (non English) classes teachers would take off points for grammar & spelling on tests and reports.
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