What a fascinating pair

of articles The Grauniad has run over the last couple of days.
The first which was our Chaz rattling on about the rubbishness of texting in comparison to Old Bill, and the demise of the English curriculum.
The second, reflects on the banality of conversation teens indulge in on their phones, and the sad 'fact'that they are not talking as much anymore.

This is of course, not a new observation, and my unfriend Zygmunt Baumann moaned similarly in Liquid Love (no, don't get excited, it is not a rude book.) Here he talks about the demise of relationships in a 'connected society' of 'networks' which now exist instead of 'relationships' (See the introduction and the chapter:In and out of the toolbox of sociality'.)

Yesterday I was discussing Bernstein's' 'Vertical and Horizontal Discourse: An Essay' with Anne-Marie.

Now there IS an interesting piece of work. Bernstein uses metaphors to describe different types of discourse, or 'forms of knowledge'. I will let you read the article if you want to get involved in the definitions etc, but I have had an interesting time thinking about the metaphors Bernstein uses to describe differenttypes of knowledge. The vertical form refers to the types of knowledge which tend to be most revered in society, priveleged forms which have a principled structure and which are exemplified through school curricular. The horizontal forms of discourse could, I think, be defined as folk forms of knowledge; perhaps the kind of knowledge which is taught within groups of teenagers about text meassaging.
Berntein's view is that the horizontal forms of knowledge tend to be about the particular and tied to specific contexts. They cannot be built upwards and developed in such sophisticated ways. He ends with this kind of comment:
'Horizontal discourse may be seen as a crucial resource for pedagogic populism in the name of empowering or unsilencing voices to combat elitism and alleged authoritarianism of vertical discourse'(my italics) (page 169)

I think Prince Chaz would agree with Bernstein if he understood it. But I think that text messaging plays a different role in society to Shakespearian sonnets (etc.) and is not of lower quality but of different use (at the moment). The skills of texting can be built upon and developed so that texting can be done better or worse by different people.
A long time ago, as an undergraduate, I read a book by Loreto Todd about Pidgins and Creoles. The central tenet of the book was that although these forms of language are looked down upon by many, their ability to express concepts and ideas were as sophisticated as the speakers who used them. I.e. it is not languages which are of inherent greater or lesser quality. Modern linguistics is based upon such notions. Similarly I think we can apply the same to text messaging.

One more thing: When Anya was talking about these articles, she also mentioned Chaz's view that some people should not be encouraged to believe they can go to university. Chaz talked last year about giving people ideas above their station.
I think I would rather argue, that universities are not the place for everyone and that other types of knowledge offered elsewhere are equally valid. Much as I could not vote for any other party, I would say that Labour has an obsession with university education, and there is much more to Education' than that offered by the academy. All forms of knowledge are equally valid and I am not keen n the metaphor which Bernstein uses since the tidiness of the axes he describes, obscures the messiness of discourses and forms of knowledge which are after all social constructs themselves.

However, I know that not everyone will agree. I am a member of the Times Educational Supplement chatroom. And so far in answer to my thread about text speak, I have had this response:

"English STUDIES"????? wtf???
That's bad enough as it is.
As if kids need any help 'studying' the art of text messaging!!
He said last year that "some people without "the natural ability" were being encouraged to rise above their station".
And yes, I agree with him.

So there we have it.
To follow the discussion it is in the English staffroom here.

And finally, if you are exited by all this, more thoughts on Bernstein and online discourses will soon be discussed over on Blogtrax. Hooray.