Recently I attended a band concert of one of my children.  The band was arrayed in the classical concentric semi-circle arrangement.  Prior to and during the concert, various students walked up to the microphone to explain some aspect of what the band was doing.  The only problem, I couldn't understand a word any one of the kids said.  It wasn't my middle aged ears, or problem with the public address system.  The problem was the source.  The children did not speak clearly.  I've heard professional athletes speak more clearly.  What's wrong with these kids?

In the United States, we allegedly share a common language, so why is it that the younger generation is unable to speak it?  I'm not speaking about the slang that each generation uses, I'm speaking about the fundamentals of the language.  The ability of a person to be understood generally has a direct influence on their ability to secure a good job, or advance to a position of responsibility.  Imagine for a moment, asking to speak with a manager and upon beginning the conversation, your confidence in having the issue resolved plummets to zero as you are unable to decipher the words eminating from some mush mouthed bozo who can't complete a sentance without resorting to barely recognizeable catch phrases like "You know", "Know what I'm sayin'" or worse.  While we all like to skewer the "Valley Girl Syndrome" of the 1980's, it is far worse today because the result is an unintelligible stream of noise with an occasional sylable of coherence.

I suppose my midwest upbringing, coupled with my parents insisting that I did not pick up the local drawl has allowed me to be understood by all english speaking peoples from the many different countries and local's that I have visited.  The thought of only being able to effectively communicate in only one section or subculture of our great nation is inconcievable.

I think of the presidential race going on right now.  People say of Barack Obama how well spoken and eloquent he is.  Why isn't this the norm?  Imagine for a moment how far Mr. Obama would have gone on the national stage if he spoke as do many rap or hip-hop 'artists'?  He would be laughed off the stage.  We would not trust him to represent our country to the rest of the world.  Thank heavens that Mr. Obama's parents and teachers taught him to speak clearly.  He is an impressive speaker that I disagree with, but that's another story.

Now, if you are a business owner, and you want to make a positive impression on your customers, just who are you going to hire?  Would you want your customers to wonder if they've called your company or the local low budget rap studio?  I think the answer is clear, unlike the speech patters of millions of tweens, teens and young adults who will be entering the work force soon, and can't understand why no one will hire them.

So, what's the solution?  It boils down to parents and teachers, church members and the public in general.  They should insist that children speaking should enunciate their words.  Catch phrases should be eliminated from their vocabulary, know what I'm sayin'.  I should not need an English to English translator if, heaven help me, I actually want to watch something on MTV, or a music awards show.  I should not need subtitles on the local news to help me understand what the eye witness to a shooting of a drug dealer, or victim of a natural disaster says.  Go look up "Boo got Shot" on YouTube for a perfect example.  America should raise the level of our speaking intelligence immediately.