Passage 2
Whether in public or private schools, teachers worried that their students with poor writing skills will suffer in college and the workplace. Some felt torn between their desire to enforce the rules and their fear of sucking the joy out of self-expression. And many were uncertain about how to help teenagers who didn't learn the foundations of grammar.
Eighteen teachers met for a class last week with Mary Norris, a veteran copy editor at The New Yorker. The Academy for Teachers sponsored the class in the Manhattan offices of Scholastic, a publishing company.
Ms. Norris began with a lighthearted demonstration of her perfectionism. Then she led the group in fixing mistakes she found in the media. Pointing to one example, she stressed that to put a comma between a subject and verb is a great error.
Catherine Conley, a teacher at St.Jean Baptiste High School, said that is“something my students love to do.
As the day went on, teachers expressed more concerns. They said formal grammar lessons have fallen by the wayside because of time constraints, an emphasis on hands-on projects and other priorities. Schools focus on reading comprehension and material emphasized on state tests, they said.
Erika Stark, who teaches English at Bronxdale High School, said her supervisors want her to concentrate on meaning and analysis, not grammar, but she couldn't ignore her 10th-graders' mistakes.
Several teachers said they struggle to deal with how much to be purists about spelling and punctuation (标点) in the era of texting. Their students often use abbreviations (缩写) in homework, such as “u” for “you," and some see a period as a sign of aggression.
Ambar Paulino, an English teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School, said some of her students use slang such as “ain't” and neglect subject-verb agreement when they speak. They don't realize they need to be more formal in academic writing. “T'm trying to find a balance so I'm alowving my students to find their voice but still follow some of the rules," she said.
Teresa Genaro, who teaches literature at the Packer Collegiate Institute, said she could envisage a day when writers no longer use capital letters at all. She corrects students who fail to capitalize “I” or “Catholic," but also questions the necessity because she understands their intent.
Ms. Genaro has her students write about rules that they think should be abandoned and why.“They are very compelling," she said.

What is the teachers' main concern about their students?