The lack of competent instruction in the freshman English composition courses here at the UA is simply, in a word, disgusting; especially regarding the areas of grammar and analysis.

In discussions with several graduate students in the English Department, I have been told, in no uncertain terms, stories about how any sort of criticism of any undergraduate paper with regards to grammar, punctuation, etc., is strictly forbidden. Basical ly, a graduate student teaching a freshman composition course is instructed not to grade grammatical mistakes. Instead, the grad students are told to grade on a "broader, more general" level, making the students feel "good and positive" about their writin g, regardless of the grammatical quality. In other words, the English Department is encouraging incompetence. I'll give an example of what I mean.

Here are four terms: comma splice, dangling modifier, split infinitive, pronoun without an antecedent. These are relatively common and unfortunately accepted grammatical errors. Right now, 85-90 percent of the people who have just read this article do not know what two out of the above four terms mean. Another 70 percent don't know what three out of those four terms mean. That figure is simply ridiculous. Of course, everyone makes mistakes in writing from time to time, but a person should at least be able to recognize and understand what mistakes they have made.

In a world where communication and information are two of the highest priorities, how can we place such a low level of importance on such a monumental and common part of the English language?! The Internet is quickly becoming the mainstay of information a nd advertising, which entails writing. The Internet is a visual, not verbal, form of communication. How can a person be expected to convey written ideas, thoughts and information if that person does not know how to write competently? John Perry, a graduat e student in the Exercise and Sports Sciences Department who is a tennis instructor said: "When I teach tennis classes, we get students from every major at the university in them, and when it comes time for the students to write up their papers, I get som e of the most unbelievable, unreadable crud you can imagine, and if I had to grade them from a serious English basis, they'd all get ripped to pieces." I think that Mr. Perry has illustrated the point I'm trying to make quite well.

The English Department claims they want to concentrate on teaching freshmen to communicate general ideas and themes in their writing. In that case, I ask this question: in the world of today, where is there room for generalization? When presenting a busin ess proposal or even a research paper, the use of generalization is discouraged. People want specifics, examples, proof and details. People want the facts. With that in mind, why are we teaching people to write towards the goal of generalization?

One of the graduate student friends of mine recently told me why he refuses to teach freshman composition courses anymore. When discussing topics they were going to introduce into their freshman composition courses, a group of graduate students were discu ssing movies, songs and other such types of topics for "general" analysis in their classes. When my friend informed them that he planned to center his class around Chaucer, the other graduate students laughed. Apparently having a "fun" class about Keanu R eeves' character in "Speed" is much higher on the priority list of the English Department than the work of one of the greatest poets and authors of all time.

For many students at this university, freshman composition is the last stop for their writing abilities; they have only to get through freshman composition before their academic English careers are over. Do we not owe it to them, therefore, to teach them what they have not yet learned and what they need to learn to use the English language correctly? Instead we ask them to write a couple of papers, ignore the flaws, and pat the students on the back for the few bright points that were able to be found.

I'm not saying berate students for every grammatical error in a paper. What I am saying is that students must know how to write a competent, comprehendible paper, and it is the job of the English Department to carry out that obligation. So far, the only t hing accomplished has been that a bunch of papers have been written and returned, with a "nice job" here and a smile there.

Finally, I must assume that either the English Department does not consider the general educational requirement in freshman composition to be as important as their upper division courses, or they themselves are ignorant of what the current-day standards a nd conditions of the English language are.

Christopher Alexander is an English senior.