tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post4518412343110100929..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Students show difficulties with college level writing. From the Indiana Statesman.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-6920255255943792332012-09-25T23:16:48.933-04:002012-09-25T23:16:48.933-04:00@F&T: I do assign published scholarly articles...@F&T: I do assign published scholarly articles to undergrads (but yes, some of them complain about it). And yes, diagramming sentences is fun (but I only occasionally do it in class, and never make my students do it). <br /><br />@Edna: my local paper didn't wait for the older ones to retire; it offered a bunch of them buyouts (and may have fired a few more). It shows. Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-35026679700645705022012-09-25T12:15:48.675-04:002012-09-25T12:15:48.675-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05244643308698776814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-52609548739282282832012-09-25T12:14:57.262-04:002012-09-25T12:14:57.262-04:00If I could put you in a time machine and take you ...If I could put you in a time machine and take you back to 1973 to grade a set of student papers, you'd see a few decent papers and some that are "truly awful." They wouldn't look a lot different than the papers you get from students in 2012.<br /><br />Believe me, things haven't changed much. Or DON'T believe me: Pick a decade, browse through enough newspaper and Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05244643308698776814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-70340715457123447432012-09-25T06:34:39.519-04:002012-09-25T06:34:39.519-04:00Speaking of journalists, I want to know who it is ...Speaking of journalists, I want to know who it is that teaches reporters to always sign off with either a melodramatic rhetorical question or a stupid pun (or frequently both). They all do it, and they seem to think it gives them gravitas (it makes them sound like idiots). I want to find the guy who teaches them to do that.<br /><br />Then I want to hog-tie the bastard with a gift bow and hand Rosencrantz Andor Guildensternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095512139776536635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-81041223377414240112012-09-25T02:27:32.668-04:002012-09-25T02:27:32.668-04:00Second that, F&T. Even the pros are screwing t...Second that, F&T. Even the pros are screwing things up more and more often these days (and not just on their Twitter accounts), to the point where I wonder if the idea of a decent copy editor under 30 is as mythical as a pink leprechaun riding a zebra unicorn. (And what will we do when the older ones retire?)Edna Expathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11438002061912782295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-11605348618596819132012-09-25T00:37:56.784-04:002012-09-25T00:37:56.784-04:00I have taught journalism students. They are often...I have taught journalism students. They are often the worst!<br /><br />Imagine a room full of students who want to become writers in their future profession. Now imagine that most of them write at a 6th grade level.<br /><br />Don't get me started on the plagiarism problems and what that might imply about the future of journalism. Hell, many of them are now in the profession, god help us.The_Mythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10621186404597424842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-92103188842870741162012-09-24T23:19:44.527-04:002012-09-24T23:19:44.527-04:00I know, SERIOUSLY the first thing I noticed about ...I know, SERIOUSLY the first thing I noticed about that article was how dreadfully written it was.<br /><br />Here are some things I'm going to blame besides Twitter:<br /><br />Nobody reads anything decent anymore.<br />Nobody studies foreign languages anymore.<br />Nobody diagrams sentences anymore (which, I'm sorry, is actually fun).<br />Nobody apparently teaches grammar systematicallyFrog and Toadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377542172335502858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-70104450981187957222012-09-24T21:47:38.363-04:002012-09-24T21:47:38.363-04:00Student journalists are no exception. The student...Student journalists are no exception. The student (I assume) who wrote the article seems to be having some trouble with subject-verb agreement, sentence structure, and general gracefulness of phrasing (or lack thereof) in the first sentence. Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-54810313209197010492012-09-24T21:41:36.458-04:002012-09-24T21:41:36.458-04:00All the research being done on how brain patterns ...All the research being done on how brain patterns change based on electronics is making me hold my breath.The Contemplative Cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088570661592922436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-31406193190050405352012-09-24T20:31:20.392-04:002012-09-24T20:31:20.392-04:00"Most of us who ended up in academia were goo..."Most of us who ended up in academia were good writers as undergrads"<br />I thought I was a good writer as a 1st year undergrad. I got a dose of red-ink humility in my required 101 comp class that served as a wake-up call that there was plenty I didn't know about writing.<br /><br />The thing was: I had an interest then (and now) in becoming a better writer.<br /><br />I'm miserable adjuncthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607025328823563088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-5251103954188299972012-09-24T17:54:28.941-04:002012-09-24T17:54:28.941-04:00As someone who spent much of the weekend grading p...As someone who spent much of the weekend grading papers, I can identify very closely and painfully with this problem. While I received some very good papers, some were truly awful, both in terms of their engagement with the question, and in terms of their writing.<br /><br />In a few cases, the writing problems are clearly the result of a student whose first language is not English, and in those Defunct Adjuncthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954331373226016090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-35053192632699790912012-09-24T15:31:08.465-04:002012-09-24T15:31:08.465-04:00Coming from an extinct culture, that's quite p...Coming from an extinct culture, that's quite plausible.<br /><br />Also, there now is something new under the Sun: consumer electronics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-10112654587729222412012-09-24T15:18:36.783-04:002012-09-24T15:18:36.783-04:00I want to remember that one of the cuneiform table...I want to remember that one of the cuneiform tablets at the U of Chicago Oriental Institute says something along the lines of "Kids today cannot write".French Professeurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08062264385792788503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-56796898738954322682012-09-24T14:04:46.013-04:002012-09-24T14:04:46.013-04:00What *is* new is that there are so many of them in...What *is* new is that there are so many of them in higher ed now. College used to be for "the best and the brightest." (Ok, also athletes and the kids of wealthy people.) But, in general, for most of the history of higher ed, professors had a room full of fairly smart, educated young adults in their classrooms.<br /><br />NOT ANYMORE!<br /><br />Some classrooms (especially at CCs The_Mythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10621186404597424842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-41032243467620097502012-09-24T13:53:42.597-04:002012-09-24T13:53:42.597-04:00I'm an Old Fart so I like to repeat myself: S...I'm an Old Fart so I like to repeat myself: Students have ALWAYS had trouble with academic writing, and they've ALWAYS been resistant to reading. These complaints--"Kids today can't x, y, or z"--are nothing new.<br /><br />Good thing, too; otherwise, we--at least we English teachers--wouldn't have jobs.Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05244643308698776814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-14403305865373052622012-09-24T11:55:21.897-04:002012-09-24T11:55:21.897-04:00I must teach at ISU and not even know it. And I ec...I must teach at ISU and not even know it. And I echo what Prof Chiltepin says: no reading skills also affects writing. How many of them read anything substantive anymore (anything longer than a sentence or two)?The Contemplative Cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088570661592922436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-75730638124158629912012-09-24T10:18:33.377-04:002012-09-24T10:18:33.377-04:00Well . . . duh. Although I love how they work in ...Well . . . duh. Although I love how they work in texting as a reason for it sucking, despite the fact that the research pretty much shows that it has no lasting effect on their writing. No, the reason they suck at writing is simple: they suck at reading. And they never have to read critically or actively in school, because they can guess on a multiple choice test and get a C. Professor Chiltepinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10087270705989845484noreply@blogger.com