Kool Aid and the Peanut-Butter Sandwich Part II

Ready! Action!

Mulroy's piece expounds the importance of learning grammar. I concur. Grammar is like a big peanut-butter sandwich and when someone talks about it I've got to have something to drink to wash it down, hence the kool-aid metaphor. And, while Mulroy does give me something (grammar hurts SAT scores, literacy, foriegn-language skills, paraphrasing, intellecualism), he water downs the kool-aid (arguments) in discussing the importance of grammar (peanut-butter sandwich).

1. Credibility of the NCTE : Mulroy says "...the leadership of the largest and most influential association [says to pay less attention to formal grammar]" (4). Mulroy waterd down the "kool-aid," by suggesting that he knows more than the NCTE. Here's a thought: if the NCTE, which has thopusands of scholars and teachers at their intellectual arsenal, says we should focus on content rather than grammar, who should we listen to? I'll help you. If NASA said we landed on the moon, and one astronomer said we did not, who you going to listen to. And, maybe the NCTE feels grammar is important (which Mulroy would have you to believe they don't), but they just know that content should be a higher order concern.

2. The Straw Arguments: Mulroy wants you to believe that adult literacy, SAT scores, foreign language study and writing skills are significantly damaged by the lack of instruction in grammar. Th first three straws sound unfounded alone, and the last one, while sounding logical, was weak on (I'll get back 2 this...)