Posted on 02/21/2014 5:24:09 PM PST by Zeneta
Why Can’t College Students Write Anymore?
Is it just me, or are student competencies like basic writing skills in serious peril today? Granted, I am about a decade in to my teaching career, but even within this fairly short span, I have noticed a startling decline in the quality of written work turned in by my students, regardless of which institution (community college, private, four year school) the papers are coming from.
It’s not just that students aren’t demonstrating critical thinking skills in their writing, basic competencies like proper syntax, spelling, and even proper structure like paragraph indentation and how to cite sources are being done very poorly. Teachers have been reporting anecdotally that even compared to five years ago, many are seeing declines in vocabulary, grammar, writing, and analysis (e.g. Westin, 2013; Bloomberg News, 2012). Moreover, on an international scale, our standards in literacy is similarly on the decline (McGuire, 2014).
There are only so many times you can correct a “their” that is meant to denote “there” before wondering, when was the last time this college student’s writing abilities were actually assessed? As a psychology professor, I am starting to feel like an English instructor, because so much of my feedback on these papers is focusing on such basic writing skills, that the coherency or theoretical merit behind the content is getting lost in the shuffle.
Snip
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-first-impression/201402/why-can-t-college-students-write-anymore
(Excerpt) Read more at psychologytoday.com ...
Remove the financial inducement, and the 80 percent in college who have no business there will vanish.
Than theirs "ect."!1!
/johnny
Today’s publik skul system are teaching students WHAT to think instead of HOW to think and HOW to write.
Yes, but why ?
I grew up in a different era. I barely got through HS with 3 of four hours of my senior year spent in auto mechanics.
I smoked pot in class. Literally got high indoors, in class.
Thrown to the wolves, thankfully I was able to find or have to ability to seek out a greater truth.
I didn’t learn proper grammar in school. I learned by reading stuff that interested me.
Lots of stuff. Later in my life.
In High school I never did any homework. Ever. I learned by listening. I aced my geometry test while stoned off my A** on PCP.
And yet, I’m a hard core conservative.
Been there done that conservative.
My kid’s 4th grade Math teacher used @ for the X in multiplication.
/johnny
Most "writing" is done on laptops (or smaller) these days.
It takes a small but real amount of courage to take pen in hand and commit something to paper.
Exceling in schools is labeled as "acting White."
-PJ
Don't forget the utter absence of any warranted paragraphs (sometimes perhaps because they do not know any html). Yet as this forum is rather informal, I often do not proof read as I should before I post, and usually use lower case "i" for myself to save time. I also think grammar rules should have some flexibility.
That's true when you're working with numbers between 0 and 1. When you multiply them together, you get a smaller number. When you divide one by the other, you get a larger number.
-PJ
Communism/collectivism is an economic system.
Authoritarianism is a system of government.
The guiding philosophy behind each is Dialetical Materialism.
In which, the party and its philosophy are never, ever wrong and it is necessary for the followers to adjust to new realities whenever there is a change of direction. And it's not a lie...if it advances the party's agenda.
Etc., etc.
Et Cetera = etc.
To be honest, I’m not sure who taught me to read.
..while there existed thousands of local schools, nearly one thousand colleges and universities (or varying quality), and scores of normal schools which trained teachers, education was largely locally managed, as the federal bureau of education, while collecting information about the condition of education, possessed no control over local schools. Education agencies on the state level were small, and its few employees had little or no power over local school districts. School systems in large cities could also function with little oversight, such as in Baltimore, where the public schools in 1890 employed only two superintendents for the entire district of 1,200 teachers.
Despite the lack of centralized administration, public schools across America were notably similar, with children learning both the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the basics of good behavior – the latter being enforced when necessary by corporal punishment. Schools were important community institutions, and reflected the values of of parents and churches, such as honesty, industry, patriotism, responsibility, respect for adults, and courtesy. Memorization, recitation, chants and rhymes were often used in teaching subjects, while solving mathematical problems in one's own head was promoted.
This inculcation of basic education and self-discipline was purposed to promote good moral citizenry, people who would be honestly employed, and make wise and informed choices, and overall progress in an individualistic, competitive and democratic society, and who would contribute to the vitality of their community and country.(Diane Ravitch, “Left Back A Century of Failed School Reforms” Simon & Schuster)
From http://www.astorehouseofknowledge.info/w/Education_in_the_United_States, which I wrote by God';s grace, but which site is down today, perhaps because of the reported attacks on conservative sites.
John Dewey?
This S**t goes really deep.
I have not. But, by virtue of my teaching experience and observing the education of my granddaughters (3rd, 6th and 10th grades), I certainly agree with his premise.
/johnny
In which, the party and its philosophy are never, ever wrong and it is necessary for the followers to adjust to new realities whenever there is a change of direction. And it's not a lie...if it advances the party's agenda.
I would suggest that those that are advancing this "agenda" have absolutely no clue what they are advancing.
I remember learning to read. Mom taught me. Greatest gift, other than life or salvation that I ever received.
/johnny
I'd judge that most of my upper division college students were both "bright" and "eager". They were certainly not disruptive.
The problem was, nobody ever taught them anything.
I don't doubt that many of their peers were otherwise, though.
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