August 1, 2008.  People Who Don't, Can't, or Won't Understand

One reason this blog has been neglected again is that we've been involved in having some work done on our house.  One of the hurdles we had is that having the work done involved communicating with the people who do the work – and very often that means trying to converse with someone who doesn't speak or understand English very well.

I understand that these workers aren't hired for their language skills, and I certainly prefer to have siding or a roof put up by someone who speaks broken English and knows his trade than by someone who speaks fluent English and screws up the job.  However, the workers who did our siding were a bit extreme in the English deprivation department.  Five men worked on the job, and, as far as I could tell, four of them knew no English at all.  Their boss knew enough to sort of answer a few questions with a combination of words and gestures, but we became gradually aware that he wasn't understanding much of what we said to him.  What they did speak was either Russian or some Slavic language, so we referred to him as "Boris" (since he never told us his name).

Our brief attempts at communication with Boris resembled a comedy act.  They were a combination of words, pantomime, and sign language.  My wife found this mildly amusing, but I found it frustrating.  She didn't think it quite as funny when the lack of communication resulted in some errors in the work.  These errors will be corrected, of course, before we pay the balance of what we owe, but we had to get back to the English-speaking salesman who sold us the job and schedule another appearance for Boris and Co.

Another glitch that we had doesn't relate to translation issues but rather to somebody's failure to read and follow instructions carefully.  We had ordered burgundy shutters to replace our old black ones, and this had been clearly written on the order that the salesman made out.  However, someone (probably in the company office) failed to notice this, so Boris and Co. (no fault of theirs) put up brand-new black shutters.  This small oversight doesn't hurt us except to further delay completion of the work, but it does cost the company, which now has the expense of having workers replace the shutters and is stuck with the slightly weathered black ones that were installed by mistake.

I wonder how many thousands of costly errors are made every day in businesses simply because some worker couldn't or didn't read instructions carefully.  I don't suppose there's any way to get an accurate statistical reading on something like this, but I'll bet that the cost to businesses is millions or billions of dollars a year.  Mistakes will be made, of course, but the number of costly mistakes that are made because people don't or can't read instructions carefully is shocking.

A case in point, too, is what happens on this website with applications to register for the message boards.  I clearly explain in the simplest language possible that applications are not automatically approved.  I say, "Important:  You will see a screen immediately, acknowledging that you have registered, but do not attempt to sign in until you receive a personal welcome from me.  I'm not here around the clock, and the rules require that I meet you at the door, so to speak.  I should normally do so within 24 hours of your request."  Nevertheless, applicants frequently submit two or even three requests before I can get back to them – often enough, in fact, that I have a standard form telling them that I have accepted their first application but rejected the duplicates.

I sent such a form to one applicant, and he e-mailed me saying, "Sorry, I didn't know the approvals weren't automatic."  I e-mailed back, "This is clearly explained in the instructions."  Bozo responded, "Well, excuse me, I didn't read all the instructions.  You don't have to get testy about it."  This is the type of person who wastes other people's time and money because of failure to read and follow instructions – and thinks nothing of it.  Such people rarely admit mistakes and never learn from them, and they are likely to attack anyone who points out their errors.  If I had remembered this person's login, I would have revoked his or her membership then and there.

As I said, we all make mistakes, but failing to admit to them, refusing to learn from them, or getting into a snit when someone points them out to us is more reprehensible than the mistake itself.

Sometimes, I lower a student's grade on an assignment when the student doesn't follow directions, especially when the instructions are simple, clear, and emphatic (preceded by "Important," boldfaced and underlined) or when I have gone over them orally in class.  When that happens, some students often get huffy about it, protesting that it is unfair to lower a grade for such a "minor" infraction as not following directions.

I used to give them my mini-lecture on the importance of carefully reading and following instructions.  I don't do that anymore.  I've discovered that students such as these usually fail anyway because the don't or can't read much of anything.  I know that someday they may learn their lesson by not following directions when the consequences are much more serious than a lowered grade on an assignment.  With any luck (for the rest of us), they may someday electrocute themselves with a tool or a home appliance because they didn't read the directions, thus removing themselves from the gene pool forever.

August 13, 2008.  Scams

I've always been puzzled by spammers and scammers because it seems that an awful lot of people would need to be very dense for the scammers to reap any benefits from their schemes.  Now I have insight from my own back yard, so to speak, that it doesn't take much to find a sucker.

My wife's sister – i.e., my sister-in-law (we'll call her Jane, not her real name) – is 82 years old and lives alone.  She is a spinster who has lived in the family homestead all her life, so she has always had a modest amount of money.  However, her judgment is now failing (to put it mildly), and she is lonely enough to listen to any pleasant-sounding voice on the phone.  She can't read the fine print on anything either.  She is a sitting duck, and recently one of these scammers picked her off.

A woman called telling Jane that, for $600, she could reduce the interest charges on her credit card.  The caller then extracted Jane's credit card number and the last four digits of Jane's Social Security number.  Even for Jane, who has fallen for other minor con games, this was an extreme lapse.  When my wife asked how Jane could have fallen for such a transparent con, her only explanation was that it was a dark day, she was depressed, and she wasn't thinking straight.  Jane has no clue about how to undo the damage, and neither do we because she is incapable of calling the legitimate credit card company and going through the convoluted process that is required – a challenge for even those of us who have our wits about us.

I sometimes read comments about how people who lose money because of foolish mistakes and sheer stupidity deserve to pay the price.  There may be some truth to this, but our government needs to do far more to protect people who are vulnerable, especially the increasing number of seniors who, through no fault of their own, weren't brought up in an age when money could be transferred electronically in an instant.  For those of us who grew up in this era or who have kept informed about developments, the rule about not divulging credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and other critical financial and identity information is obvious, yet even some of us get duped sometimes because the con artists keep trying new ploys and donning new disguises.

Reasonable sensible people are being ripped off by banks and credit card companies (as I have already noted in my article titled Banks and Usury), and we desperately need legislation to require more transparency about lending and the elimination of exhorbitant and hidden charges for credit.  However, an even more urgent need exists for policies and practices that will protect the innocent and unwary, especially the most vulnerable targets.  A few years of draconian punishment (huge fines and long prison sentences) for those frauds who are caught and a strenuous education program directed especially toward the elderly and other vulnerable cohorts of the population could go a long way toward insulating people like Jane from these predators.

August 24, 2008.   Students and Technology

Something new has been added in the English Composition class that I'm teaching this fall.  The handbooks that they buy contain a code that enables each of them to register for and access a mammoth online utility that, in essence, gives them an online course in composition, specifically geared to an integrated with what we do in the classroom.  As the instructor, I can customize everything – adding notes or additional links (such as one to my website) to the pages, creating specific assignments, or (if I want) hiding features that I don't want them to use.  Students can post and comment on their writing, as I can I (either publically or privately) or exchange messages on a blog.  There are videos on which to base assignments as well as instructional videos.  If I want to use a video that exists elsewhere on the Web, I can insert a link.  I have only begun to explore the possibilities, but they appear to be enormous.

Since I teach a "brick-and-mortar" class (i.e., a traditional class with regular class meetings involving lecture and discussion), this utility – dubbed CompClass and keyed to pur handbook, Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference – was presented to me as a supplement to the regular class.  Though the college offers some classes in composition that are taken exclusively online, and most regular classes include a computer lab in which students can write papers or do research on computers in class, my class does not even have PCs in the classroom.  I prefer it that way because, when I have had a computer lab, I have spent more time teaching students how to use the computers and the software (down to such basics as setting margins and saving documents) than I have teaching writing.  Nevertheless, most students have their own computers, and those who do not can access fully equipped machines at various places on campus.

The sad truth, though, is that, as terrific as this new feature is, I think the hardest part is going to be getting students to use it.  For a few years now, I have posted here on The Grammar Curmudgeon material specifically for my students, yet hardly anyone bothers to look.  Even though I post weekly assignments on this site, some students would rather send e-mail or call me on the phone than look it up.  Some of the instructors tell me that they will give some required assignments that can be accessed only by using CompClass, and I may do that at first to force them to register, but I resist forcing them to do something that should make it possible for them to learn what they need to know.  They aren't children to be force-fed their spinach and broccoli.  Some instructors say that they may use this because they're paying for it, at least indirectly.  However, I'm skeptical.  I've had students who bought the textbook and never opened it.

CompClass is but one example of the myriad learning tools that students have available to them today.  Sadly, few of them use these tools.  They haven' t the curiosity to go beyond what is dished up on a platter with a huge sign that says, "Read this or else" – and often enough they don't even do that. For many, the only "research" they seem interested in doing online is to find something that they can cut and paste (plagiarize) and try to pass off as their own work.  Otherwise, they would rather be downloading tunes or chatting with their "friends" on MySpace.

Much has been written about how swift younger people are with computers and how inept the older generations are.  While some young people do take advantage of technology by doing more than babbling nonsense on their ubiquitous cell phones, and some old poops are still figuring out how to use a VCR, I think the opposite may be just as true.  Raised and educated to value intellectual curiosity and to value mature communication, older people are learning how to use the technology (albeit sometimes with considerable effort) to engage in precisely those activities, whereas many younger people (exerting little effort at all) are using it to find new ways to waste their time.