desertgirl had you previously picked up from her other posts that Mumbar has dyslexia? I never knew until she told me. It is 'obvious' with some posters, less so with others.
Written communication in the work place is a different thing entirely. A handwritten note to a colleague - so long as it's understandable, anything goes - any 'formal' communication should be correct - spellchecked, checked by a colleague etc. There is no excuse for anything to go to a client with mistakes in it, nor anything in a presentation. Anything coming home from a school should be perfect - not 'formal' just correct spelling etc - yet sadly, they are usually the worst culprits!
Schools have a lot to answer for - grammar wasn't taught when I was at school, it was all this 'free text' & 'getting it down on paper'. I thank my Dad (perfectionist!) and the fact I studied french - they basically had to teach us the fundamentals of the english language to be able to teach us French. It needs to be taught at school, not at the cost of 'creative writing' but alongside of it.
I agree - most of it isn't enriching in any way, shape or form!
Headbanger OK - so you believe that it can be learnt and to some extent I agree, I suppose if you can learn it as a child you can learn it as an adult, but really, how practical is that? Take my friend, she works full time, has two children, one demanding husband and barely time to breath for herself - when exactly is she meant to spend hours each day learning English in the way you would learn a foreign language?
I taught English as a Foreign Language and it was bloody hard work! Fortunately it was immersion teaching - with only small amounts of 'this is why we do x' but I had to study and learn the rules for so much of it and I knew the 'answer' I just needed the 'why' - my friend would have to learn both.
(Please excuse the bolding in my previous post it was meant to be ^^'s not **'s!!)