A school in Orlando, FL has seen a sharp rise in eighth-graders using online slang words, like “b4†and “urâ€, in class essays. There is no doubt that IM and E-Mail has made us lazy (“What is spell check?â€) and fast to write and send before we think and re-read, but what bothers me is that some educators are doing little to stop it.
Point-in-case, as CNN points out, a teacher in Raleigh, NC, thinks that this “phenomenon should be celebrated†for “inventing a new language for communicating in a high-tech world.â€
Thoughts? Any school teachers or communications specialists out there?