America’s education establishment beams out a message to young people like a pulsar: Go to college! A high percentage of them do. Once the students are enrolled, however, the schools pretty much leave them alone. To a large degree, students decide what courses they’ll take. What they do in and out of class is up … Continue reading “A Book Full of Advice for High School and College Grads”
Freshman composition occupies a unique position in a college curriculum. It is the only class required of about 90 percent of enrollees whose diverse aptitudes and prior writing experience present a challenge for instructors every semester. In Why They Can’t Write, instructor John Warner of the College of Charleston proposes a course he says will … Continue reading “College Writing Courses Are in Trouble, But This Isn’t the Solution”
Academia has a long history of ignoring original minds who push their fields forward. There was the monk Gregor Mendel, who experimented with cross-breeding peas in his monastery garden. His work was forgotten until it was rediscovered after his death and became the foundation of genetics. Austrian physician Ignaz Semmelweis had a similar fate. Semmelweis … Continue reading “The Forgotten Man We Need Now for College Writing Reform”
The list of top-rated college writing programs is dominated by private institutions. But North Carolina State University is one of only a few public universities to break through. It is well-respected for how it teaches writing. According to a 2017 U.S News & World Report poll, NC State’s writing program is #12 in the nation … Continue reading “How Much of an Effect Do University Writing Programs Have?”