I totally agree with you Smurfy and I am very concerned that teenagers and their grades in particular, are used as political footballs. Grades are increasing, more young people than ever are staying on at school to take exams and other qualifications and teachers and other school and college staff are working harder than ever to help young people achieve - and yet they are constantly put down by claims that subjects have been 'dumbed down' or replaced by 'soft subjects'. It's pure snobbery.
However, and I must say this, there MUST be a greater emphasis on good reading and writing skills. The ability to write accurately seems to have declined dramatically in recent years. It is definitely not down to the skills not being taught as I know that spelling, grammar and punctuation are on the English curriculum. I think there are several reasons for the decline in accurate writing skills. Firstly, teachers other than English teachers are failing to correct poor spelling, punctuation and grammar. Therefore, many young people conclude there is nothing wrong with their writing, or that poor writing does not matter. Secondly, there has been a HUGE rise in the use of informal written English (text messaging, emails, social networking sites, forums and so on). Young people are writing more and more informally, but are failing to 'code switch' to formal writing for purposes such as writing essays, letters of application, letters to customers and other formal uses. This is evident wherever you see written English - but it is not only young people who are guilty of this.
