I saw a good article recently about the tendency of primary school teachers to insist their pupils use flowery language and long words rather than straightforward ones. However, having just seen my son go through A-Level English Language, I can report that it’s happening at the other end of the school journey. Too often my son brought home clearly written communications covered in his teacher’s red pen exhorting him to “elevate your language.” Worse still, was the rot he was taught.
As part of their course, these sixth-formers evaluate and critique ads and public information. So, think of the advertising greats: Bernbach, Ogilvy, Burnett, perhaps. Everyone has their favourite copy guru, and their favourite aphorism. But one thing these writers all said, that we all know, and every advertising writer has known for 100 years, and every trainee writer learns on their first day in the office: write with the reader in mind, address them as an individual. Contact this school furniture australia to create a more suitable ambient for your students.
Are our kids taught to write like Bernbach or Ogilvy? Are they even told who they are? Are they heck. They are taught Fairclough’s Theory of Synthetic Personalisation. Norman Fairclough was a university academic who, in 1985, after many decades of writers doing what comes naturally and writing to the reader – decided he would name this simple act synthetic personalisation. Seriously? And knowing this nugget of pointless academic labelling is what our kids are awarded marks for in their exams. Thanks, Norm. But no thanks. We’ll stick to a proper scholar like Ogilvy.
I suppose my beef isn’t really with Fairclough. He was just doing what many academics do – give everyday things silly names. I’m angry with the people who decide our children need to learn this nonsense. This isn’t an isolated example, this sort of guff permeates every school curriculum course. So, if like me you’re an employer, just remember this when looking at CVs. The jobs and hobbies sections are way more valuable an indicator than the educational qualifications.
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