http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/guest-post-robert-lane-greene-on-language-sticklers/

When reading this post, I was struck with Greene's idea that more Americans are writing today (versus a century ago) because technology is providing new venues for us to write. He writes,

So a bigger proportion of Americans than ever before write sometimes, or even frequently, maybe daily. Naturally that means more people are writing with poor grammar and mechanics. Education is universal, and every texter and Facebooker is a writer. A century ago, a nation of 310 million engaged with the written word on a daily basis was unthinkable. Now its uneven results are taken as proof by some that language skills are in decline. That is far from obvious. We may just be seeing more of language’s real-world diversity – dialect, nonstandard grammar and all – in written form, whereas a 150 years ago those same people would never write. That’s something to celebrate, not to complain about.

I appreciate his perspective that we should be celebrating the fact that individuals are taking up writing for personal reasons, expressing their believes in written form. Although I shudder at poor grammar and mechanics, I'm excited to see writing becoming a daily endeavor in the lives of everyday people.

I extend this thinking to students. As we encourage students to take up the writerly life - the identity of a writer - we encourage them to write often, engaging in the act of both reading and writing daily. I truly believe that as students take up a writing identity, seeing value and relevance in the act of writing, they will come to notice grammar and mechanics for what they are intended to be . . . tools which help us to craft our message in clear and unique ways for the reader. When students see the meaning/purpose in writing, grammar, mechanics, and language have relevance, hopefully putting the language sticklers to rest.