Log onto Facebook and you’re likely to observe the train wreck that is teenage grammar. Misused homonyms run rampant and apostrophes are strewn about. What if we offered a course that would teach students to conjugate? What if there was a place students could go and feel comfortable among complex sentence structure and semicolons? What this school needs is a grammar class.

It’s obvious that no student is going to volunteer for such a class; diagramming sentences is not anyone’s idea of a good time. This class should be a required part of high school curriculum because it prepares a student for not only college, but for the job industry.

Earlier this year, Harvard Business Review did a study on grammar in relation to career success. They reviewed the profiles of 100 business executives on LinkedIn, a social network of sorts in the professional world. They found that those with fewer grammatical errors in their profile achieved higher positions and more promotions.

A person’s grammar, or lack thereof, indicates to their employer strength or weakness, respectively. A person with proper grammar demonstrates attention to detail, a key skill in the business world. They exude professionalism in their work. However, if an employer sees a plethora of grammatical errors in an application and resume, this is an indicator of one’s intellectual aptitude. Misplaced punctuation and other seemingly small mistakes may cause an employer to wonder what else you may have failed to learn.

In addition to the professional costs of improper grammar, personal costs must also be considered. In this age of technology, students feel as though they don’t need to focus on how they communicate as long as they’re generally comprehended. In most cases, spelling and grammar checks on word processors eliminate the need. However, speech isn’t checked by a computer and one can appear unintelligent.

If Parkway requires underclassmen to take a class where they can learn the correct way to express themselves, graduating classes will be more professionally and socially successful.