Kids Improve Writing Online

aelfric35 writes "Ben Franklin advised his son not to allow schooling to interfere with his education. Even though many have disparaged the effects of IM on schoolchildrens' prose, some kids are actually becoming better writers by participating in online communities. Henry Jenkins writes in MIT's Technology Review about how some kids are gaining writing and editorial experience far beyond what their schools can offer by participating in Harry Potter fan fiction forums (sorry about the alliteration)."

Comments

elitist ignorance

[themusicgod1]

i have perhaps met three people who know english. english is a hack, of many different languages and dialects, warped and twisted generation after generation. i sure has hell don't claim to know english.
seriously though, why should anyone be expected to learn a language as bloated, and crufty as english? while i have yet find a replacement(esperanto?), i think if it is understandable, that is all that matters. isn't that what the point of a language is, in the first place? to get meaning/information from one point to another?
this thinking people as worse because of their incapability to learn a near-impossible language is just naieve. there's infinitely more important things to do than learn how to communicate absurdly more accurately.