Why Aren’t Most College Graduates Able to Write an Effective Essay?
Writing is a skill that may be honed through repetition.
It entails as much reading and analysis as it does writing and editing. Students should have mastered the craft of writing after twelve years of writing training in school before entering college. University-level scholarship should be a place where people may hone their persuasive talents while studying other fields of study.
Instead, students graduate with gaps in their education, a lack of writing experience, and mediocre writing skills. In truth, it appears that the majority of college grads are unable to produce a quality essay.
- Instructional gaps
College students lack mastery of the writing craft in part because they were not held accountable for outstanding writing in middle and high school. Instead, the educational emphasis has been on reader-writer workshops, which trick kids out of grasping the fundamental building elements of language. The emphasis on entire language has decimated learner writing.
The importance of syntax and spelling has declined in the previous decade, but it isn’t the only issue. Most students are unable to present a consistent and logical argument. Their argumentative abilities are lacking, and their grammar is atrocious.
Who is responsible for the lack of writing ability? It turns out that no one.
- Inadequate writing experience
College students have little experience writing essays. Educators do not require their students to write essays, primarily because they find it difficult to grade them.
Evaluating writing is time-consuming, and educators sometimes avoid providing in-depth analysis and criticism in favor of holistic score.
- Writing of mediocre quality is widespread.
Students are ill-prepared to write, and as a result, their work is mediocre.
Excellent writing abilities are hardly taught these days. Because they haven’t studied rhetoric, high school teachers don’t teach it. Because they have a course of study to offer, college lecturers do not have time to instruct pupils in logic and eloquence. It is thought that college students have the necessary writing skills, and it goes without saying that students should be able to create grammatically accurate sentences.
Instead, most college students struggle to put their thoughts on paper. They are unable to explain themselves properly and logically in writing, they lack linguistic skills, and employers who hire college graduates are aware of the problem.
Thinking is expressed through writing. We’ll continue to grant degrees to college graduates who can’t write a decent essay unless we teach writing in a systematic method that covers not only grammar, usage, and mechanics, but also logic and rhetoric.