Ill-literacy?

I recently had the opportunity to peruse the writings of a friend of mine from college, in which Breebop reviewed a posting by Jim Elve of BlogsCanada, who offered some tips on blogging and increasing readership. In her post, Bree says the following:

When I hear bloggers complain about lack of readership it seems that they’re usually missing one of those components: they post infrequently, they don’t correct poor spelling and grammar (typos aren’t a big deal, but Blogger has a spellcheck: use it), the writing is too formal or stiff, they don’t take the time to be a part of the blogosphere by reading other people’s blogs as well writing their own, and/or they give up too easily. It takes time and attention to build readership.

Reading this, I find it impossible to deny that one of my biggest pet peeves comes from people’s typical lack of correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other literary staples.

Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that typographical errors and such will happen … nobody is perfect, and as such, these things are a reality. My problem lies in a far more commonly occuring area–things such as the errant apostrophe (splicing a pluralization such as "apples" by turning it into a possessive "apple’s", or the ever-increasing frequency of utilizing the incorrect form of a word:

I mean, things like "Take these two to the library too" or "They’re both there, is their sister?"

Perhaps the most disturbing point about this increasing trend is that more and more college students, graduates, and professionals are making these errors. Thinking back to my days editing at the college newspaper, I don’t believe it would be a far cry to say that I spent more time proofreading incorrect usage, errant apostrophes, and comma splices than I did actually editing. On a student level, I remember once exhausting a brand new red pen during a peer edit because of how many of these errors I had to correct–the very same corrective efforts that I received from my teachers in grade school.

I can’t help but question if our education system is failing on a literary level in our broad attempt to keep up with modern technologies. With the disturbing increase in these tendencies, is it possible that students today are being pushed through school without paying any attention to the fundamentals? And is this problem existent to such a large extent in areas where standardized tests (such as the American SAT I, SAT II, TOEFL, and PSAT exams) are in place?

Most of all, I have to wonder … are others as disturbed by this growing trend as I am?