I often hear people complaining that Generation Y doesn’t know how to write. They make grotesque grammar and spelling mistakes. And on top of that, they speak a different language, one that older people, can’t understand. Their language consists of slang and acronyms, and it’s often impossible to decipher.
Yet generation Y doesn’t seem to realize this.
So the big question is, what are we going to do about this?
Recently, there have been reports on the news that reveal that Elementary school teachers in Brazil don’t have many credentials. Many haven’t completed very high levels of education themselves. How can we fix this situation?
These news reports only confirm what I already know. Our education system doesn’t work very well, and it needs a lot of reform. I worry about who will teach my grandchildren, and the sons and daughters of Generation Y. Will our future teachers be the young people of today? The same ones whose writing style and language we critique?
Who will take on the management roles in businesses? Who will the future politicians and presidents be? Will they be individuals from this generation, who we often feel don’t know how to write, and have no respect for rules?
What many Baby Boomers don’t notice is that most of Generation Y doesn’t care about the new spelling rules in Portuguese. When I ask them if they’ve read them, I always get a “No.” Why? They’ve got other priorities. It’s not their problem.
They don’t seem to care how they write. They just want to make sure their point gets across. When faced with urgent situations, they’ll write “excecao” (exception) with two s’s. And it doesn’t matter to them. They believe that the person they are writing to will know what they mean.
And so I wonder, what will communication look like in the next few years? I honestly don’t know, but I’m sure it won’t resemble the way my generation communicates.
Their language doesn’t make sense to us. Yet, we must acknowledge that the Portuguese Language has also changed. Has it evolved, or has it regressed? That depends on one’s point of view. But we can all objectively agree that it has changed. And it will continue to change. Some say that the Portuguese language used to be more beautiful. “The birds that sing here don’t sing in the same way there.” But even the birds have changed. And I’m not that young people are familiar with this piece of poetry.
There is no way back into the past or into the future. There’s no rewind button. There’s no way to “delete” or to “erase.” We can’t cancel everything out. Generation Y also knows this. And we all feel that we must hurry up…
