As a senior, I’ve been asked several times over the years what I’m going to do when I’m older. Since third grade, the answer has always been the same: a teacher. Only this year did I really decide I want to be an English teacher for high schoolers.

A lot of people are confused as to why I would throw myself back into high school. There are many reasons, but there is one main one that has plagued me for years. High schoolers’ grammar is atrocious.

In this age of social media and texting, grammar has been thrown to the back burner. Why? Because 1. We’re lazy, and 2. We haven’t been taught anything new regarding grammar since the fourth grade. I’m not saying that writing a personal narrative over and over isn’t a great learning strategy, but we should probably get the basics down first.

Admittedly, I don’t use correct grammar sometimes, but I reserve it strictly for comedic effect and extra faves on my twitter, @mykahkennedy. Plus, I know what I did wrong. If a tweet is too long by one character just because I need another comma, I refuse to commit the sin of sending that tweet. Grammar is more important than my popularity on twitter, which is saying something coming from me.

Using correct grammar makes you seem smarter. Even if you’re saying something that’s incorrect or stupid, if you say it with correct grammar, you’ll probably throw off the other person because of how smart you are and make them forget why they were even arguing with you in the first place. You’re obviously a very educated person.

Intelligence is how we repopulate the earth, so it’s important to realize that correct usage of your/you’re or they’re/their/there is a way to score major points with your bae. Nothing’s sexier than knowing the difference between homophones.

All in all, just remember that how you type represents what kind of person you are and how smart you are. If you’re questioning whether or not something is grammatically correct, don’t hesitate to ask your nearest English teacher. You won’t regret it.