I hope it prompts a better system in public schools, but there's also the worry that we could have something even worse. I know anecdotally (lots of grade school English teachers in my life) that they see the problem as clearly as you seem to in university. One teacher friend does scheduled free-writing, with the grade coming solely from…
I hope it prompts a better system in public schools, but there's also the worry that we could have something even worse. I know anecdotally (lots of grade school English teachers in my life) that they see the problem as clearly as you seem to in university. One teacher friend does scheduled free-writing, with the grade coming solely from participation. Another teaches International Baccalaureate students, where the focus is on much longer form writing, with written projects having a more mentorship-focused evaluation approach.
But the vast majority of US students are taught to 'the test', and it makes sense when you consider that (woefully underpaid) teachers get bonuses based on their school grades or even on the number of students that individually pass the AP exams.
I hope it prompts a better system in public schools, but there's also the worry that we could have something even worse. I know anecdotally (lots of grade school English teachers in my life) that they see the problem as clearly as you seem to in university. One teacher friend does scheduled free-writing, with the grade coming solely from participation. Another teaches International Baccalaureate students, where the focus is on much longer form writing, with written projects having a more mentorship-focused evaluation approach.
But the vast majority of US students are taught to 'the test', and it makes sense when you consider that (woefully underpaid) teachers get bonuses based on their school grades or even on the number of students that individually pass the AP exams.
There's some cool stuff happening outside of the school systems. David Perell runs a program called 'Liftoff' which exclusively focuses on teaching high-schoolers to be writers: https://writeofpassage.school/2022/09/12/our-vision-for-write-of-passage/
But things like that are obviously small scale and early days.