Colleges taking over where high schools have failed: Trends in freshman writing 22 Articles

by Julia Bates

Tell Me A Story Twenty-five years ago I began teaching writing at St. Mary's College. I'd gone to college under one model of writing which was the five paragraph essay based on topics handed out with little explanati...read more

by Joyce D. Sinclair

When I was a junior, I was always warned about how hard senior English would be. Needless to say, I was a little nervous when I started the course. I thought it would be really difficult. But once I started senior Engli...read more

by Sara Srati

During my high school experience, the bane of my existence was the five-paragraph essay. This formulaic approach to writing was crammed down our freshman throats the first day we sat down in English and never ceased until ...read more

by Jen Bishop

In the recent past, high schools have begun to expect less and less from their students. This gives some of the students better grades and a false impression that they are more prepared for college than they actually are. ...read more

by Joseph Odumosu

I for one strongly agree in this statement that has been made. Not only have high schools failed in their efforts to make young adult better writers but also on Basic English fragment. The high school teachers also show a ...read more

by M. Sparga

College freshmen's writing represents them at a huge transition in their academic lives. They are crossing the bridge from high school writing courses to the college level, where the expectations of them change quite a bi...read more

by S. J.

High school seems to be lacking in teaching students the basics, and this does not merely include how to format an essay or cite a source. Some students aren't even given a foundation to stand on-information such as how to...read more

by Randa Morris

When I first came to my little town in "Middle America" I went to the "local" campus, (only about an hour and half from here, so we consider it "just around the corner") to take the College Placement Test. After complet...read more

by ladolcevita

For some reason high schools across the nation have decided to just leave out any education having to do with grammar. Educators have assumed that watching "School House Rock" and learning to write a simple sentence conta...read more

by H.G. Hess

It took me both freshman and sophomore year to achieve the level of writing that college professors expect of their students. And I was an English major, so I can only imagine it being just as difficult if not more so for...read more

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by Roxanne Dubarry

One Helium writer correctly made the following factual statement concerning High school English teachers: They are over populated with a class size of 30 or 40 students. They are unable to provide the badly needed individu...read more

by Shannon Burton

The college I attend has an "English Proficiency Exam" that must be passed before a student is allowed to graduate. Students are given two hours to write a 500-word essay on a given topic. Students here have historically h...read more

by Linda Ann Nickerson

FROM A WRITING TEACHER, TUTOR, AND EDITOR: I have taught college writing, if you can call it that. I have also taught high school English. Some of my high school sophomores could write circles around their college ...read more

by Tenebris

Why can't the teachers teach their students how to think? This grade point average focus has brought us to the brink Why, if you thought like them instead of the way you do You might be legislating students too. An a...read more

by Megan Risley

It would seem logical that more would be expected from students at the collegiate level as compared to the high school level in all areas, but especially in writing skills. While this seems like the likely conclusion, my ...read more

by Susan Smith

High schools have gone downhill in regards to writing skills. Post secondary institutions are having an increasing number of freshman coming in who cannot write a proper sentence or compose an essay. Many have no grammar ...read more

by Anuradha Mishra

W - Wisdom, R - Rational, I - Intelligence, T - Tact, I - Impressive, N - Nice, G - Grand These are some of the words related with a good 'Trend in freshman writing' To take a big jump from high ...read more

by Will Kester

One might think that lower education teaches students to read and write, and higher education teaches students to read better literature and write better, but one might be sorely disappointed, if one were to read some of t...read more

by Lupine

My girlfriend teaches Fundamentals of Writing at a major University in my home state. Incoming college freshman take entrance exams to place them in English. Those that are not judged to be proficient in writing must ...read more

by Jennifer Levesque

I think college is where most students learn to write well. Writing well is essential for college. Every college has at least two writing courses that students have to take and pass in their first year. You don't just w...read more