Kristen Bailey
Published: September 28, 2005
Warrington campus adjunct Michael Smith invites retired Starter for Oakland Raiders, Horace Jones to speak on the importance of correct English.
” We wont ever get away from written and oral communication. There’s nothing you’re going to do in this life that doesn’t require communication,” Jones said.
A Washington highschool graduate, Jones served as a starter for the Oakland Raiders until being injured at twenty-five in a game against the Dallas Cowboys.
After his injury, Mr. Jones became very active in education serving as a principal at Pensacola High, the Assistant Principal at Woodham High, the director of student transfers for Escambia county, and the Equal Opportunities officer and Teacher Recruiter for Escambia county.
Grasping the transition from the sports world to the educational world, Jones accentuated the need to always have proper English.
“Once your knees are gone and once you’re not beautiful enough to be a model anymore, you got to make withdrawls from your ability to write and communicate,” Jones said.
Professor Michael Smith agrees on the importance of proper communication in spite of circumstances.
“Good english is good for your professional existence. It helps you do all kinds of things if you can (communicate) well. You’ll be successful no matter what your major.”
Jones also talked about the effort that must be put into achieving the ability to communicate well.
“The problem with writing is that there is a proper way to write and sometimes we want to be selfish and use our own dialect.We come from all different homes and ideas, but we have to mold to the accepted rules in society. What you like to do and what you have to do are two different things,” said Jones.
Smith seems to agree.
“Correct English is essential . I know no professionals or CEO’s that speak incorrect grammar,” said Smith.
Undoubtedly, proper communicative skills are a must no matter what career students pursue.