I'm right there, with you xerxes. Been through all those adventures in the occupation. Dumbing down of grammar, infotainment of the classroom, adolescents who'd rather be behind the bike sheds, etc, etc, etc. I don't know what State you're in but in Vic. one felt the almost total destruction of the Education System from day one of Kennett's reign. Principals were given "incentives" like a little Sigma (eventually called "the stigma") and then began the closing down of schools, the bloating of bureaucratic garbage, the endless meetings, the huge classrooms, the sacking of youth workers and teacher's aids, the lack of funds to update even the most basic necessities, like white/black boards, libraries, science equipment, P.E. equipment, the stupid contracts, a new surge in illicit drugs, the entry of accessible porn everywhere... the offers of "packages" to retire... the new parents who thought teachers were not good enough to teach their little einsteins... the internet that brought the art of plagiarism to new heights... You're absolutely right. Teaching ain't what it used to be.
Grammar, though, is a bit tricky. One ought to teach it but one to be very careful not to overteach it. The language can't cope with too much dogma; it's just too malleable and rules that applied in Latin or Ancient Greek don't necessarily work in English. Try parsing any verb these days and you'll find the wretched thing wafting past your Aorist and into Pluperfect without so much as a "howdeedodee!" Nouns become verbs at the drop of a hat and as as for gerunds and participles, you might as well be talking about rockets to the moon! Personally I loved all that but I really had to be careful about when and how to teach it. I did so very obliquely and while we'd be reading passages out of the novels or plays or poetry or news articles etc. Just mentioning stuff as an aside. Believe it or not, that's what stuck in their minds.
But you've given me a fine journey down memory lane. Up the chalkies!
