Report: Uh, it's like student writing is bad

CNN ^ | 25APR03 | AP

[Gefreiter]

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Ask high school juniors to write a paragraph about a haunted house, and nearly half are unable to do so satisfactorily.

That's because writing has been neglected in school reform, according to a report by the National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges. So, students finish high school without the ability to write in a sophisticated, precise or engaging fashion, the commission says.

[RansomOttawa]

from this . . . to this:

Or this:

THE OLD JOHNSON HOUSE HAD ALWAYZ BEEN MYSTURIOUS, ITZ OLD FENCE. OVURGROWN YARD. PEEL1NG PANET + GABLED R00F ALWAYZ CONVEYED A SENSE UV D00M! AND THE SENSE UV D00M WUZ WEL EARNED. 4 RUMORZ PURSISTED ABOUT THE HORRIBLE SKREAMZ HERED SO MANY YEARZ AGO. AND THE STORY GOEZ ON. 2 TH1S DAY. PEOPLE WHO DARE 2 TAKE THE SHORTCUT 1N AT MIDNITE. THROUGH THE BACK YARD UV THE OLD JOHNSON HOUSE OFTEN TEL U UV THE FEAR THEY FELT. B4 THE PANE + THE SKREAMZ STARTED! AND THEY AL BEAR THE TEL-TALE BRUISE. THE VURT1CAL STRIPE AKROSZ THE FACE, OF COURSE. DURING THE DAYT1ME, VISITORZ RUMUMBUR 2 STEP OVUR THE RAKE 1N THE PATH,

[FourPeas]

This isn't a new phenomenon, though. My father who received his Ph.D. in 1972 had incredibly poor writing skills. Since his area was mathematics, he never concerned himself with learning to write. Years later, as he had proposals turned down because of poor writing, he still never realized the importance of good writing skills.

My husband, who graduated high school in 1971, is a terrible writer and speller. When he was in school, it was accepted that girls wrote well and boys didn't.

Frankly, our educational system has been in the process of failing for much longer than the past decade or two. That it's now not much more than a glorified baby sitting service in many communities is the outgrowth of liberal policies starting fifty years ago.

[shadowboxer]

I taught 6th grade for one year and I had to get out. This was a great source of irritation for me (one of many) as a teacher and as a parent. The trend for so many years was to focus on the "content" and the "creativity" not the mechanics of writing because it will stifle them. Well what the hell good is creativity if no one can read what you have written? Fine, but the rules of writing were never taught. All though we seemed to have plenty of time for multi-cultural non-gender bias lessons. I couldn't stand all the wasted time in the school day on everything other than teaching. The act of teaching was pretty low priority. I had thought I was getting into teaching to TEACH-but did I get a rude awakening. My hat is off to the teachers who stay and continue to battle "progress".

[Salvation]

Oops. I just left off pronouns. Did I miss anything else? LOL!

[Salvation]

**the more rigorous requirements made of Ed majors. That's the way it should be.**

You are so correct!

[Salvation]

**Nope, but don't forget to include instruction on the proper format, placement and purpose of a thesis in your 5 paragraph argumentative paper.**

I wrote mostly from the point of view of working with middle school kids. The main idea (thesis) is always included in the introduction and then re-stated in the conclusion when I teach it.

[Salvation]

Thanks, SWL!

[Salvation]

Gerunds are not a part of speech. They are a form of a verb.

What I didn't include, however, was tenses of verbs.

[SuziQ]

Bump for later reading.