Zaid Alsbayei | The education system is underperforming students in writing

The college experience teaches you many skills, from note-taking to pulling off all-nighters to surviving on a diet of takeout and microwave noodles. However, one set of skills that our educational institutions often struggle to get right is academic writing, and the pen is no exception. So why do students still struggle with this basic skill, even at universities like the University of Pennsylvania?

Surprisingly, the problem in the United States appears to begin not at the university level, but during the most important years of school. A 2017 analysis by Dana Goldstein of the New York Times found that “three-quarters of both 12th and 8th graders lack writing skills.” This is a big shock because writing was supposed to be a central component of the state's Common Core Standards, a model that outlines expectations for students in kindergarten through high school. Although this standard has been adopted by the majority of states for more than a decade, it has clearly strayed from its intended goals. State deficiencies seem only to worsen, especially in the post-COVID-19 era.

Common Core's perceived failure can be attributed to the fact that it simply enumerates student expectations but does not provide educators with the tools to help students reach them. It also assumes that students at a given grade level have uniform English proficiency and that instructors are prepared to teach writing, but neither seems to be the case. As a result, students graduate from high school unable to write in ways that are neither original nor proficient, a perennial concern of employers.

University-mandated writing coursework has slightly improved student performance, but it has not had a noticeable impact on broader issues. And at an institution like Penn, the problem becomes even more problematic. From student frustration with writing requirements to the never-ending burden of deadlines, dealing with the act of writing can be a tedious task in the demanding pre-professional environment. Deadlines overlap and students are in a race against time. As midnight approaches, the intimidation of a blank page turns into fear. This pressure incentivizes students to submit “passable drafts,” which are done through increasingly questionable means.

The pattern that unites these failed attempts is that even though educators are trying to help students write well, we often don't know or even question what “good” writing is. It means that it is not. Ask yourself, “What is good writing?” Next, ask your friends the same thing. Did you two arrive at the same answer? Is it significantly different? I didn't know. Siri gave me the cold shoulder.

This disparity also exists among Penn faculty. When asked, Matthew Osborn, director of Penn's Critical Writing Program, says, “There is a sense that 'good writing' cannot be universalized, because effective prose is adapted to the setting and audience. ” he replied via email. In response to a similar question, Professor Jean-Christophe Cloutier, chair of the Department of English Studies, cited a quote by Jack Kerouac, suggesting that good writing expresses “an individual's indescribable vision.” .

In order to know something and be able to do it, we need to be able to define it. The same principle applies to writing. You can use her two assertions of faculty to come up with your own definition of “good” writing.

Writing can be considered “good” or “excellent” if it strategically and skillfully uses the writer's voice for a particular argument or audience. This definition still does not allow us to absolutely judge the quality of a particular work. But this is the starting point for a skill, dare I say a craft, that has suffered from a lack of standardization through the education system.

That's what I'm advocating. Standardization and a clear implementation plan. The fact that students have accepted the assumption that a clear rubric is not necessary for a graded essay is discouraging. Even when rubrics are provided, many instructors use the general quality of the writing to justify point deductions in courses other than writing seminars. This not only gives assessors too much autonomy when marking, but also unfairly influences international students. I say this as someone who learned Arabic as a second language in Saudi Arabia, where my writing skills (actually lack of) followed in almost every academic field.

If left unchecked, the problem of writing will continue to worsen, worsening America's severe literacy crisis. But the role we can play as students is to improve our own writing and help others do the same (not overwhelmingly, but bear with us).

Some believe it starts with the student, some believe it starts with the educator, but I believe it starts with handwriting. A 2021 study found that students who regularly take notes on a laptop tend to perform lower on conceptual questions in courses than those who take handwritten notes. I don't talk much about practice because I think very few people have the time or inclination to write papers for practice (hats off to all you language majors).

Instead, try to utilize the papers you have already written in the course. Instead of checking grades and skimming feedback, focus on that. Analyze what worked and what didn't. Is there a grader's comment that you disagree with? Send an email or meet with them during business hours and ask them what went wrong.

Think of these assignments as opportunities to improve your writing while you still have the chance. Doing so will improve your overall proficiency and help reverse the generational decline in writing.

Zaid Alsbayei is University freshmen study economy from Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.his email address is zaidsub@sas.upenn.edu.