Robyn Anderson

At the moment I am between projects. Not “prod-jects” as everyone on tv seems intent on announcing, but proper, English, pro-jects. I could crusade for better pronunciation but I’ve caught myself using the word “like” in ridiculous places recently so I am not crusading on anything until, I’ve like, kicked that awful habit into touch. But I do have to something to say about the students who felt disadvantaged by sitting an exam last week because they did not know what the word trivial meant. Duh!  I think it was an English exam but perhaps that’s me, like, wanting this to be like, perfect. Whatever exam it was, I found myself screaming at the newspaper,”That’s the point of exams dummies and you’ve been caught!” I have found myself yelling quite a lot at the newspaper. It’s jealousy. The journalists who write the words that make up the stories I read everyday are, unlike me, paid to write. And unlike me, there are some of them who don’t know the difference between their “their” and their “there”. Everyday there seem to be a myriad (another word that will probably confuse some people should it slip unannounced into an exam), of grammatical errors that lead me to believe they are only serving time until they’re on the telly. It’s a harsh world and I don’t want to sound like (OMG a like I can use) a wizened curmudgeon before my time but what does it take to have pride in your work and as in the case of the moaning students, to suck it up when things don’t exactly go your way?  I think it takes courage. Perhaps the journalists already have that and it’s time pressures exposing the seriously underfunded newsrooms where those who understood the language they work in, are gone. But for the young people and their exams, it is much easier. It’s the courage to explore your ignorance, the courage to be wrong and the courage to use that knowledge to change.