Kids Can't Write Anymore, Fear The New SAT
from the give-'em-a-keyboard dept
Here's one for all those teachers freaking out when their students hand in a paper written in "txt". Now, those same kids are blaming current school programs for not teaching them how to write properly. The problem is that the new SAT exam includes a written component -- and they do mean written. Students will be expected to pick up a paper and a pencil for the first time in years and actually jot down the essay answer in their very own chicken scratch. Tragically, many of these kids claim they have been using keyboards and keypads for so long, the idea of writing with a pencil scares them silly. They're afraid their handwriting will be so bad that they'll get a bad score. The schools respond that they still teach good penmanship, and seem to think that the kids are just whining excessively. Of course, considering the rest of the exam has been entirely computerized for years, why not just give the kids a keyboard and let them type their essay responses (or, since the kids these days are so into text messaging -- let them text their essays)?
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Better Yet...
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No Subject Given
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SAT & ACT tests...
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GMAT
-The GMAT already has a computerized essay section. ETS wouldn't even have to write any more software.
-The GMAT essay section is graded twice. Once by a human... generally a grad student on break, and a second time by a computer. A second human is brought in as a tie breaker only if the scores differ by more than a half a point.
ETS claims something like a 90% agreement between the computer and the human. But what ETS is looking for is different than what you might look for in an essay. The most formualic essay on earth will get a perfect score. Prose and anything else literary kills your score.
If I remember correctly, the Priceton Review gives as an example that James Joyce would get a low score, the Unibomber Manifesto is a perfect score.
So what does all this mean? The essay section of the SAT is another meaningless exercize that is mostly useless in determining a student's qualifications for college... just as the SAT is.
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what's the point?
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Re: Better Yet...
That being said, this is just kids being whiny (something that also dates back to invention of adolescence).
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Re: Better Yet...
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Get your facts right on the SAT
The handwriting fear is a real issue. At Kaplan, we work with kids to slow down and write legibly so they do not lose points for a silly reason.
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Teh 547
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Handwriting
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Re: Teh 547
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so much for all those folks who taught kids "handw
Now their kids may have low-level jobs. Taxicab-drivers (for instance) have to write a heck of a lot, you know.
;-S
I've taught handwriting to MDs and others for over 15 years, and this year you wouldn't believe how many anxious high-schoolers (and their parents and teachers) phoned me from every state in the USA for help.
P.S. - I tried to post a message before, but it didn't get through.
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so much for all those folks who taught kids "handw
Now their kids may have low-level jobs. Taxicab-drivers (for instance) have to write a heck of a lot, you know.
I've taught handwriting to MDs and others for over 15 years, and this year you wouldn't believe how many anxious high-schoolers (and their parents and teachers) phoned me from every state in the USA for help.
P.S. - I tried to post a message before, but it didn't get through.
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Re: Better Yet...
A: Increased specialization, de-emphasis of what might be considered fundamental skills to someone in a different field, an educational gap between disciplines and especially between education levels, etc.
All the same, I'm with you on the grammar stuff. Personally, I think we need to re-evaluate the role of fundamentals in ongoing education. Either lengthening the term of an undergraduate education or consciously allowing a larger gap of ability and advancement at the high school level are possibilities that the educrats should consider. I just completed my undergrad in biology (at a damn good school, I might add), and I am less able to compose good prose than I was in HS, which I blame on the fact that I haven't had to write a non-science paper in 3 or 4 years. Even with all the science classes that demanded my attention, I am just scratching the surface of the state-of-the-art in a narrowly defined subfield. There's no way to expect a comprehensive ability in an evolving field without more years of training. We should let advanced students pursue advanced knowledge in, say, 10th grade (at real college levels, not the "college level" community college head start-type progs), so that they can effectively extend their undergrad by 2 years. Concurrently with this, we should mandate true liberal arts education to keep fundamental skills sharp throughout the undergraduate program, and have demanding expectations on ability in those areas before a student is allowed to graduate.
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Re: Better Yet...
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Re: so much for all those folks who taught kids
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A Word From the Intelligence-Challenged Generation
Finally, just because you believe that everyone you meet whose is younger than you is stupid, does not mean that everyone younger than you is the same. For the most part, the bottom of the barrel ends up as your underlings, and the best of each class becomes your boss!
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Re: Better Yet...
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