[Leica] declining quality now why are these illiterates even admitted to college

[pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig)]

Ah, yes, they should...but the political pressure is on to keep numbers in 
tertiary education up, or rising, according to country/state. The trouble is 
that the standards in higher education were much higher in the past.

If politicos want to push kids through higher education they MUST give them 
a 
good enough education to enable them to cope - and that is not just 
restricted 
to use of English - but applies to education in general. Take levels of 
education in Math(s) as another example and we couldgo through this 
discussion 
all over again.

Politicians have to realise that there is a lot more to an educated work 
force 
than mere statistics. There are, it is ever so true, "Lies, damned lies and 
statistics".

Peter Dzwig

Don Dory wrote:
> Sorry for the rant, but if these 18 year olds are being admitted to
> university; shouldn't they be able to string a few words together
> coherently?
> 
> Perhaps it wouldn't be too much to require basic communication abilities
> before admission.  My mother taught at the graduate level and every
> semester flunked out a few who couldn't/wouldn't write the required
> papers in the format provided the first session.  I can still hear her
> on the phone to the Provost explaining that if a student could not
> follow a basic style requirement at the graduate level she saw no reason
> to provide a passing grade, and explaining it again, and again.
> 
> Don
> dorysrus@mindspring.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf
> Of Adam Bridge
> Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2004 3:17 PM
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Leica] declining quality of writing
> 
> My engineering education dates from the early 1980s, but at UC Davis
> at least writing reports, GOOD reports that people could understand
> and which were literate, was a part of the general engineering
> curriculum that all engineers were required to take.
> 
> The University also had entrance tests to discern who could actually
> write an essay in English that someone might, should they read it,
> have a shot at understanding. I used to carpool with one of the
> specialists who taught that course and the amount of understanding she
> brought to her course was well beyond what a vast majority of the
> engineering faculty had at their disposal.
> 
> Teaching writing and composition is a specialized field, just like
> teaching circuit design, chemistry or any other field. It seems
> natural to me to let those who studied how to do it actually do the
> job they studied for.
> 
> On the other hand the demand for well-written reports and essays in
> the sciences and in engineering seems even more crucial now than it
> ever has. But in an era where some elementary curricula are designed
> around using Power Point (shuddering) I wonder how well we're going to
> be doing a decade from now.
> 
> Adam
> 
> On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 14:32:08 -0500, Jeffery Smith <jls@runbox.com>
> wrote:
> 
>>I have tried to push "writing across the curriculum" at three
> 
> different
> 
>>colleges, and each attempt has invoked cries of "academic freedom"
> 
> being
> 
>>violated. The invention of the scantron hasn't helped our cause
> 
> either.
> 
>>Jeffery Smith
>>New Orleans, LA
> 
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