What is appropriate
to publish? What is not? This is a major issue in
publishing, particularly
the publishing of periodicals, today. However, a
less recognized,
but just as important issue deals not with what is
published, but
the words in which it is printed.
Every morning when you get up to read the newspaper, you read
information written
at a fifth or sixth grade level, using simple language,
and filled with
grammatical errors. Other periodicals are quickly becoming the same
way; even widely recognized educational periodicals such as National Geographic
are being written at simpler levels. It is
understandable
that newspapers and magazines do not write at college level; but must they
be written at such a level that most children could easily read and comprehend
the newspaper their parents read each day? It is understandable that
periodicals are not grammatically perfect; but must they be filled with
misplaced commas, non-literary contractions, and blatant misspellings?
Why do educated journalists, who have attended college to write at an extremely
educated level, stoop
to these simplifications
and mistakes?
The basic answer to this question is that they want to appeal to
the masses, and
they see a large number of people who would not read their paper if it
were written at a level that these people could not understand.
But why can
we not use periodicals as a learning experience? To me, it
would be better
to have just one scholarly word that might provoke a
thought, just one
sentence pattern that would spark an idea, just one thing that would teach
someone something new, than an entire periodical of mediocre work made
simpler so that everyone feels smart when they read it. We are taught throughout
our lives to learn from everything; why not learn from the morning paper
or a national magazine?
The answer to this question is that the publishers who fear losing
readers if they
write at a higher level have justified fears. Many
Americans are content
to learn what they are forced to, to maybe research a couple of things
they are interested in, and to spend the rest of their lives using basic
knowledge to get by. They do not want to see a word that they are
not familiar with in their daily paper; they do not want their normal pattern
changed. Instead, they wish to wake up in the morning, cruise through
the morning paper, never considering why exactly they can cruise through
it, and go about their day. So, in order to raise the level of our
periodicals, we nearly have to change the mindset of the country's citizens.
Obviously, this is difficult to do. However, that is not to say
that it cannot
be done. There is a lot of focus being put on the
improvement of
the country's educational system; why not implement change in publishing
as well? This could be seen as an effort to better educate the adults
in our nation, just as we educate children. It does not have to be
much, simply something that makes people think. If a word like emolument
were used in a newspaper, ten to twenty percent of people would look the
word up and learn something; the rest of the population would skip the
word and never worry about it again. No one is going to riot because
there is a word they do not know in their favorite paper or magazine.
In fact, there will be nothing but gain for those ten to twenty percent.
So, why not add a little variety and scholarly value to the words, sentences,
and grammar used in periodicals?
However, it is not only "Why not?" There are reasons why we
SHOULD be correct
and sophisticated with what is published: these
reasons are the
millions of children and young adults who read and
learn from periodicals.
We cannot allow people whose writing ability is still being formed to constantly
be exposed to mistakes. This is why teachers make children change
errors instead of leaving them as they are. If you do not correct
a mistake, you get in the habit of constantly repeating the same error;
if you repeat an error, you will come to believe that it is the correct
method. The same goes with what you read: if a child constantly reads
the same mistakes, they will come to believe that the error is in fact
the correct way. Why do people put colons before lists even if the
list is not preceded by the words as follows? Why do people use misplaced
modifiers?
Because if they
do not learn the proper way in school they turn to things
they read every
day-journals, magazines, newspapers-for the proper way to do things, and
the periodicals do not provide the proper usage.
This is why we
need to raise the level of written periodicals in our country: we do not
want people who do not know better to pick up habits worse than those they
previously had because they try to educate themselves by reading a newspaper
or magazine.
It is clear that there is a problem with the level of periodicals
in our nation;
all one has to do to confirm this fact is to pick up a
newspaper.
The level is a problem because by not having more
scholarly periodicals
we allow people to remain ignorant of important things, as well as inform
them incorrectly. Yet, this problem may be simply fixed: all we have
to do is assure that proper grammar and more educated vocabulary are used
in our nation's periodicals. This is simple because it is not as
if we have journalists who are uneducated on how to write in an educated,
grammatically-correct style; it is that the journalists who are prepared
to write this way do not. And when they do, it is very likely that
the majority of the people will ignore the vocabulary they are unfamiliar
with, disregard the changes, and continue about their daily lives.
However, at least they will not constantly be exposed to mistakes; and
the people who do seize the chance to learn from the more sophisticated,
correct writing will be made the better for it.
Lauren Henry.
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le 7 février 2000
Dernière
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Nada AbiSamra & Lauren Henry
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