[pepsionice]

Most of these issues started in grade school in the 1990s. I watched an interview from two years ago where an older professor had to deal with PhD students who were bright, but just not capable of writing a paper at the level expected. I don’t think it’s just a US problem...various countries are openly talking about this fundamental ability that is lacking now.

[cnsmom]

If you can’t figure out the correct pronouns good luck teaching composition.

[Vermont Lt]

I write reports for a living. I have for nearly 35 years.

My English comp class was a pain. Business courses should write Business Writing. Short, concise, and with all of the information and conclusions on one page.

I’ve had bosses that wanted one paragraph. I’ve had bosses that liked all the details. But, the one page cover sheet is critical.

[jeffc]

...planning, prewriting, drafting and revising.

Worked for me. Just a hell of a lot of work...

[Nateman]

My experience with English teachers is that many , if not most , were flakes and I could not finish their courses fast enough. I do regret not taking advantage of their skills even if they knew nothing about everything else.

[gundog]

My attitude toward the latter teaching method could be summed up by telling the instructor “I’ve got yer 3x5 cards right here,” and pointing at my crotch.

[yetidog]

I have taught at the university level for many years and graded many examples of poor writing. You cannot write well without doing a lot reading and spending much less time on visual amusements.

[gundog]

Ping for a Canadian perspective.

[ClearCase_guy]

In order to write clearly, you need to think clearly.

In my opinion, John Warner is trying to screw with people’s brains and hopelessly muddying their thinking. No good writing will come from that.

[aspasia]

Some good points here, although they get buried in the paragraphs. Some more:

1. Writing is not learned in one semester. Imagine how far you can take a musical instrument in one semester. Not very far. Progress is will happen only if there has been some cumulative practice over the years. Great skills develop after 10,000 hours and 10 years.

2. Learn Latin at a young age. More specifically, learn to translate into English from another language. Nothing else can teach you sentence structure so well.

3. Writing into a vacuum is nonproductive. There is something sterile about writing for an assignment or a teacher. Writing an essay to win an award suddenly gives meaning.

4. No more question marks from the teachers. Nine times out of ten teachers just put question marks in the margin. Lazy asses. Teachers must respond, preferably in person.

5. The view that writing is self-expression and therefore a protected activity is damning. If students can't take criticism they will never mature in the workplace.

In short, good education is cumulative over the years. it's wishful thinking to expect writing to suddenly blossom during a one semester freshman English writing class.

[sparklite2]

 “Correctness is simply not a value any working writer would even recognize as important”

---

That's as far into the article as I could get, which was pretty far.  Most of it is rambling crap, anyway.  The author should research "brevity." If we aren't even going to try to teach correctness, please stay the hell away from STEM.  I don't want to fly in a jet plane that's "incorrect by design."

As for the rest, Freshman English used to be the course that weeded out unfit candidates from continuing to waste academic resources.  Sadly, the incoming school product has degraded to the point where "Writing With a Purpose," the most popular text in Freshman English in my day, probably would drive the semi-literate to tears.  The ferals wouldn't make it that far. Remember this genius?

I don't do cursive

"Are you wearing a thong to court, madam?"
"A traditional one among my people, yes."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a hula hoop festooned with a hemp rope sling."
"What does 'festooned' mean?"
"I don't know."

[aquila48]

“It is the only class required of about 90 percent of enrollees whose diverse aptitudes and prior writing experience present a challenge for instructors every semester.”

Diverse aptitude - No aptitude. After 12 years have no clue of what a sentence is and probably never will.

Prior writing experience - ebonics.

This is an exercise on how to teach the unteachables, and it is bound to fail. Can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip.

[Agatsu77]

Yet another reason that a college education has almost become worthless. What ever happened to teaching students the tools they will need in the future and making them think.
The last few years I was working about 1 in 8 new hires I made was really smart and could do a lot of technical processes but had absolutely no idea why. No idea why they to understand the problem before starting a process solution. Totally worthless!

[_Jim]

If I had been taught, in composition class, that the purpose was to lay down as much BS in as flowery language as I could muster, I would have done MUCH better.

[Chickensoup]

college writing isnt what it used to be:

My daughter took a college writing course at USM during her Junior year in Highschool. The readings were all fraught with feminist anger and victim ideology, written in the most turgid style. I worked with my daughter to decipher the text of the handouts, and to find some connections with the questions. It took me a while to realize that the instructor’s questions were a misreading of the texts she assigned. No practice in college writing actually happened in the course. It was all victimhood and hate propaganda. Instead I taught her how to string the correct words together to ensure she was hitting all the victimhood and rage necessities for the instructors emotional well-being. It became a homeschool education in how to recognize and respond to this political correctness. She was never in jeopardy of receive less than an A anyhow. In today’s vernacular, her brown skin privileged her, although I didn’t tell her that.

My daughter was chased by the English department that was losing students during this time . She was highly praised for her writing and it was a heady experience to have these profs taking her out and telling her of the promise she had as an English feminist write. I homeschooled her, and knew her talents and her significant limitations as a writer. Although her head was momentarily turned, she eventually, with discussion came to see that the profs in English wanted the black student for numbers and for the “diversity” she provided for she was the right color. Fools.

I spoke to a friend who ran a different but related humanities department about the content and the lack of teaching in the courses and she admitted that college writing was seen as an introduction to “different ideas” for the students. IOW propaganda. The friend was quite taken aback that I would find it wrong to sell a class on College Writing which actually a class on Victim Studies.

[Mercat]

Our daughter, special, no HS diploma, writes beautifully.

[9YearLurker]

Total claptrap that perfectly demonstrates what is wrong with education today.