<p>^^^Good writing entails much more than knowing the difference between homophones (you’re and your). </p>
<p>I suspect that what many students struggle with is the argumentation/logic part of good writing. The language itself might be grammatical, but the arguments have logical fallacies, are poorly supported (with quotes, primary sources, data, etc), do not address what opponents might say, and so on.</p>
<p>For many, it is be more difficult to master the argumentation/logic part of writing than the language part.</p>
<p>From my experience, it also seems as if teachers give scant feedback on papers. They might provide general feedback along with a grade. But some students really need to know specifically what they’re doing wrong in order to improve.
Another suggestion is for teachers to give students models of good papers or good writing. </p>
<p>The young adults whose writing I see don’t get that far. They struggle with the basics of writing – spelling and punctuation. To some of them, periods seem to be optional.</p>
<p>They’ve declined, unquestionably. Read news articles over the last several years in the business sections stating that employers are having to conduct internal writing classes because writing skills over at least 10-15 years are so poor. They say many employees cannot even string a sentence together. Notice that most colleges now offer (or mandate) a basic writing course in the freshman year–they mostly all call it something fancy, but it’s a course on pretty basic writing. My kids’ two primary schools have been writing-focused, so they are both excellent writers, well above their years, but they’ll have to end up taking this college course because so many others cannot write. Also, I’d be on them if they could not write, even if their schools had not. 2/3’s of colleges in California offer remedial writing courses, and 50% across the country as the colleges have found the same thing as employers.</p>
<p>Romani, I am with you, I think overall people write as least as well as they used to. More people are writing, and more people are college bound, so overall there is improvement. </p>
<p>Writing styles have changed. There is a move to simplicity. It will be interesting to see how writing changes in reaction to technology. Think of the abbreviations and shortcuts we use in texting, for example. Language is so dynamic, these could become standard and accepted over a number of years. </p>
<p>I would also point to these newer forms of writing, text writing and Facebook writing, maybe blog writing, to show there are more writers out there.</p>
<p>I think this is a great summary if people want to talk about population-wide riding/literacy abilities and NOT professionals (journalists, writers, academics, etc)</p>
<p>Therese, you seem to think good writing entails being the next Hemingway (I know I’m exaggerating there, but you get the point). Some kids, no matter how hard they try, just aren’t good at writing. Their calling in life is elsewhere than writing. Yes, there most definitely is a problem if kids have issues with punctuation and whatnot, but I honestly believe for some people, it’s just being lazy and careless.</p>
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My English teacher has to grade 40ish AP research papers, plus whatever she grades for her one regular class, so I don’t blame her for putting a ton of comments on our papers. She makes it clear that anyone who has questions/wants more specifics can talk to her about it after class. Pretty much all teachers are open to talking about it in person, but don’t really have the time to write it all out. </p>
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I think in a way, it’s comparing apples and oranges, since writing styles have changed so much. </p>