A Letter to the Editor
Establishing Writing Standards
As a teacher of undergraduate history courses at the University for 34 years, I have
long been concerned over the writing skills of my students. Some students have those
skills firmly in hand, but many don’t. The University has long been aware of the
problem, and requires two Writing Intensive courses for all students as a
prerequisite for graduation, one lover division the other upper division. I offer
Writing Intensive courses at both levels, and can say that some students are quite
unable to write coherent, grammatically correct papers, even in upper division
Writing Intensive courses.
The sad truth is that some students graduate with writing skills that one should assume they have when they receive a baccalaureate degree. That they don’t have those skills, in some cases anything close to them, means, in my judgment, that their degrees are tarnished, as is the reputation of the University that confers them. This is a problem that must be admitted and addressed if our public mission is to be carried out properly and with integrity.
I have described the writing problems of our students many times at meetings attended by University faculty and administrators. Beyond describing the problem I have suggested a way to correct it: a remedial English course required of all incoming freshmen students who fail to pass an English language competency examination. When I attended the University of California at Berkeley I was required to take an English competency examination before I enrolled for may first semester of academic courses. Students who failed the competency examination were required to take remedial English until they passed the course; they could not graduate without having done so.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times in January 1995, the failure rate on the English language competency examination is now close to 50% on some campuses. It saw the California problem as part of a large trend: nationally schools are not teaching English grammar and imparting writing skills to our students. This, of course, is well known and borne out by many studies.
When I argued in various times and places that this University should impose an English language competency examination and require students who don’t pass it to take remedial English I went so far as to offer, ironically, a way to finance the program: bill schools whose students failed the competency examination and had to take remedial English. It turns out that what I suggested ironically is actually being considered in some states.
One of the main advantages of this model would be that it would exert pressure on public schools to teach English grammar and to impose more stringent writing requirements. To use one of today’s buzzwords, it would encourage accountability; schools, in a tangible way, would be held responsible for imparting skills to students essential for success in the workplace and for the continued vitality of our democratic way.
The University is aware of the writing deficiencies of some of our students, and has taken measures to address the problem. It can’t afford to do as I have I have suggested and introduce a language competency examination and remedial English classes for students who don’t pass it. We don’t have the resources, particularly in the present fiscal climate, to do so. If such an examination and remedial courses are to be introduced it should be done throughout the State University of New York rather than on one individual campus.
And this is as it should be anyway. The advantage of this model, and it is huge, is that it would enhance the language and writing skills of graduates of the State University of New York; it would restore integrity to the degrees our students receive and to the institutions that confer them; and it would be a stimulus to public schools in the State of New York to provide their students with skills they urgently need but do not, in too many cases, currently receive.
Warren Roberts
Department of History
Editor’s Note: Warren Roberts, SUNY Distinguished Professor and 1997 University at Albany Collins Fellow, wrote a letter on this subject to Richard P. Mills, State Commissioner of Education. This Letter to the Editor is adapted from that letter.
which may be edited for space reasons.
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