I heartily endorse the majority of the information supplied in the Nov/Dec Spotlight; much of this has needed discussion for a very long time. I would like to note, however, that the "average" score on the Sophomore Writing Experience does not "accurately reflect" the writing ability of our students. The SWE requires on demand writing; three hours to compose a response to a known subject but an unknown prompt, while a good measure of our students' overall composition skill, does not reflect the kind of writing that most of their classwork requires. We deliberately teach "process writing" in our composition classes, and the SWE does not score that kind of writing.

So I ask whether other professors have, in the grading period now upon us, routinely found only "marginally competent" writing from their students' (presumably) carefully drafted, edited, and revised final papers. I can say that while I have had a few, the majority of my students have met or exceeded "reasonably consistent competence," and those marvelous few have come up with exceptional excellence.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2000

Answers

This is sort of off-subject, but mention of SWE (about which I know nothing) prompts me to express my dismay at the poor writing skills of students who want to work as copy editors for the University Press. Perhaps it isn't only poor writing that bothers me. I'm also dismayed at lack of curiosity; inattention to detail even after the student- worker is told that the job requires tremendous attention to detail; unwillingness to consult a dictionary, style manual, or other reference book to verify facts, even after having been told to verify certain facts. Perhaps I'm expecting too much -- but, after all, this IS a job and one that is important for the press. It is much like an entry-level job that a student will look for after graduation.

I hasten to add that we have had some very, very, very good students, too -- students that wish we could have kept after they graduated.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001