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Why Can’t College Students Write Anymore?
Psychology Today ^ | February 21, 2014 | Azadeh Aalai, Ph.D

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 ...


TOPICS: Education; History; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: dumbingdown; writing
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To: Zeneta

P.S. Since before I started college in 1991 (well after high school) the largest number of classes offered were remedial English and remedial math.


21 posted on 02/21/2014 5:45:05 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Haven't you lost enough freedoms? Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: Zeneta

The leftists teaching our kids only care that they’ve been properly indoctrinated.

There is no desire to impart critical thinking or communications skills.


22 posted on 02/21/2014 5:45:10 PM PST by G Larry
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To: Zeneta
Why Can’t College Students Write Anymore?

Because most of them aren't classically educated homeschoolers like my two kids currently in college.

Mind if I gloat a little?

:D

23 posted on 02/21/2014 5:45:46 PM PST by Oberon (John 12:5-6)
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To: Zeneta

Because the education bureaucracy in this country is only useful as a money laundering operation for Democrats. Actual education is much farther down on their list of priorities.


24 posted on 02/21/2014 5:46:20 PM PST by WeatherGuy
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To: Red Steel

k thxbai!

CC


25 posted on 02/21/2014 5:47:47 PM PST by Celtic Conservative (tease not the dragon for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup)
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To: Zeneta

A PHD actually wrote that title?


26 posted on 02/21/2014 5:48:22 PM PST by winodog
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To: rey

I was about a sentence in to the article, when I noticed problems with this author’s own ability to write. Ironic, eh?


27 posted on 02/21/2014 5:48:25 PM PST by Defiant (Let the Tea Party win, and we will declare peace on the American people and go home.)
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To: Zeneta

ROFLMAO. I txt u gud. What the prblm?

Schools are indoctrination centers and don’t teach writing or thinking. Why should they? They get the money regardless of the outcome of students. Thinking writing students won’t be easy to control.

In college, modern writing is in 140 characters or less.


28 posted on 02/21/2014 5:49:22 PM PST by Organic Panic
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To: Zeneta
The idea, the issue is what can be done about it ?

Start by reading to your kids when they are too young to read for themselves. It teaches them how to visualize the words and makes them want to read for themselves later. Worked for me (when I was a kid). It starts with reading, because, as another already put it, how can you teach someone music if they've never heard music?

29 posted on 02/21/2014 5:49:26 PM PST by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
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To: Zeneta
Why Can’t College Students Write Anymore?

Blogs.

30 posted on 02/21/2014 5:51:45 PM PST by humblegunner
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To: FreedomStar3028
It’s not that we can’t write anymore, the language is changing into a kind of english shorthand.

No, the author's right. I can't believe how degraded written English has become over the last decade or so. This website is a prime example. It's actually becoming hard to find two consecutive posts with no spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors in them.

The language isn't changing, but the quality of instruction and standards are.

31 posted on 02/21/2014 5:52:00 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Zeneta

“our standards in literacy is similarly on the decline”

I guess the is, isn’t they?


32 posted on 02/21/2014 5:52:34 PM PST by smalltownslick
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To: smalltownslick

they


33 posted on 02/21/2014 5:53:03 PM PST by smalltownslick
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To: Zeneta

Ping for later


34 posted on 02/21/2014 5:53:11 PM PST by NewHampshireDuo
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To: Zeneta
My great grandfather's declaration of intent to become a citizen. He had a spotty education at best due to spending his childhood in a tumultuous world, yet still had passable penmanship and spelling. In his world, the signature took on a whole different level of importance and it was something to be practiced and perfected.


35 posted on 02/21/2014 5:53:17 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: JRandomFreeper
I can be drunk as a lord, and post grammatically correct drivel on the internet all weekend long. It's because students don't learn to read, and they aren't taught to write.

Spot-on, Johnny. Thank God I went to school during an era when people still demanded excellence from students, and went the distance to make sure every kid was firmly grounded in the basics.

36 posted on 02/21/2014 5:55:05 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Zeneta
TELEVISION
37 posted on 02/21/2014 5:56:21 PM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not a Matter of Opinion)
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To: Oberon
Mind if I gloat a little?

Not at all. I'm a home school dad myself :-)

38 posted on 02/21/2014 5:56:42 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Zeneta

It is because proper grammar, spelling, and pronunciation as well as basic math skills are now regarded as “racist”!


39 posted on 02/21/2014 5:56:43 PM PST by sjmjax (Politicans are much like bananas. They start off green, turn yellow then rot.)
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To: G Larry; WeatherGuy; Oberon; Blood of Tyrants; Telepathic Intruder; Vendome; Perdogg; ...

Please understand.

This is NOT some liberal/progressive/communist/statist conspiracy.

They are on auto pilot.

They are true believers and don’t have any grand plan for remaking our culture.

The issue is wholly different.

The issue is “how” did this thought process gain soo much traction ?

How have we allowed the teaching of “uncertainty”, the embrace of “Uncertainty” to gain dominance ?

What can we do about it ?

I’m open to ideas.


40 posted on 02/21/2014 5:57:34 PM PST by Zeneta (Thoughts in time and out of season.)
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