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English Composition Nonsense
Murray Sperber over at the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy offers some suggestions to reform the college writing process. His thesis: Because America's middle and high schools have failed to teach students the fundamentals of sound composition, the task falls to colleges and universities. Unfortunately, Sperber argues, english composition classes now embrace a "holistic writing" pedagogy that does not adequately instruct students in grammar. Composition classes are really about other things. In coursework, "[c]ontent alone matters, not how well the student has expressed it." This is, "Nonsense. If a student doesn't clearly express ideas so the reader can easily comprehend them, then it's impossible to judge whether the student really understand the ideas or not." ACTA's What Will They Learn? reviews the curricula of over 750 schools for a required course in english composition focusing on grammar, style, clarity, and argument. Subject instruction masquerading as "composition" usually doesn't teach students to write . A requirement for effective participation in the workplace and civic society is clear and grammatically accurate writing. All college graduates should learn to write.
Posted by Max Brindle on June 24, 2011 at June 24, 2011 02:27 PM
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