Hiking Through My Problems

Literacy is brought up often throughout the high school years, with teachers complaining in the classrooms at the students for not caring and at non-existent politicians because they don’t fund the California education system enough. After hearing the word “literacy” throughout K-12 years (and the years following) a student can’t help but see literacy as 1) reading, writing, comprehension 2) something that many Californian teenagers are struggling with and 3) something that is never mastered through and through. Literacy is like a lost hiker in the woods. The surroundings are fixed with an occasional fallen tree with the hiker trying to navigate their way about to the forest to their destination. The trees act as the individual rules of spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and such. Personally, I, as the hiker, have come across times where the ideas and words are on the paper (I’ve found the trail) however, in trying to reach the goal, I fall short, and my paper is only comprehensible to myself. Awkward sentences are very common in my paper, and of course, I only realize this after my paper has been graded. Along with awkward sentences there are other various problems such as spelling that curb my progress, and with the aid of dictionaries and self-correcting writing applications my ability is even further in reach.

Enrolled in the more “challenging” English classes in High School, I had hoped to learn the nitty-gritty of grammar, and though there were some lessons in grammar, the focus was and will continue to be on interpretation/involving yourself with the text. What I have learned in high school has helped tremendously in the college setting, however, grammar seems to have never been taught in the manner I had imagined I would have been. Teachers have said, “read more, and you’ll understand the language.” Paragraphs, pages, and novels go by for X amount of years and I still find myself putting commas whenever I feel like it, or not understanding the purpose of other mechanics (really why need so many punctuations for different lengths of pauses?). Up to now as an English Lit major, reading has not ceased in my life, and yet the struggle persists. In middle school, a teacher once lectured the class on the importance of peer-editing and revision. It works! However, sometimes it doesn’t. Peer-editing and revision isn’t the immunity to the red-ink-pen and path to overcome my problems: even with the help of fellow colleagues I’m still in the same forest. Awkward sentences and dangling punctuations marks will prevail and I can only ask for help and continue to read more with hope that practice really makes perfect.