“The Write Thing to Do”
It's time the gloves came off. College students' writing skills are just plain inadequate. Although this statement seems ironic, as I enter my Junior year at the University of Michigan, it is important to expose the writing shortcomings of my own generation. In the heart of the digital age, the concept of writing, to college students, seems flat-out antiquated. Having grown up with laptops and iPads, most of us cannot honestly remember the last time we sat down with a pen and paper and wrote a personal note. We have lost the simplicity and artistic impression of written correspondence.
Text messages and Twitter force us to condense our thoughts into 140 characters, with formal writing taking a back seat - or no seat at all. These forms of communication, while instantaneous, are not always articulate. Digital age teens have difficulty expressing themselves clearly - a necessary skill when utilizing the written word. The majority of my peers do not consider their digital communication via social networking, email, and instant messaging to be true "writing". Conversely, they believe strongly that writing skills are necessary for success in a business environment. These conflicting forces create a dilemma for young adults entering the professional world.
Students are right about one thing: writing is an essential skill for professional life - 120 major American corporations rated writing as a "threshold skill". Writing is pervasive in the competitive business world. Clarity, persuasiveness, and even grammar are rudimentary skill sets for professionals. These same skills are completely ignored in the social networking world. For many college grads, writing a simple business letter or memo is oftentimes an insurmountable task.
Writing shortcuts are taught at a young age. According to Kara Miller, a first-year writing instructor at Babson University, professors are encouraged to spend 15 minutes grading a paper. Consider how much time should be afforded by a high school teacher, whose students are more inexperienced, and thus need more individualized attention! It becomes far too easy for teachers to grade students' papers without thoroughly examining writing technique. Minor writing flaws become major if consistently left uncorrected. Students' failure to reach writing proficiency in high-school leads to a cycle of continuous inadequacy in college and professional life. With time, it becomes and harder to overcome.
The larger issue is an overall lack of assertiveness on the part of students themselves to better their own writing. Only recently did the SAT make its writing portion mandatory, while the ACT still offers a test with no writing section at all. It is as if even the major testing organizations cannot agree on what level of writing is sufficient. Even so, many colleges dismiss the writing section of the standardized tests as "experimental" and "new", and do not consider it a "serious" part of the admissions process. This very approach is fostering a generation of "everybody wins". If students don't do well, they are willing to chalk it up to, "I'm still good" because they do not see the negative consequences of their scores. At Michigan, we have available writing tutorials on "How to Write a Business Letter" or "Cover Letters 101", but most students don't care to know about or to use these resources. Today's generation is all about shortcuts - the less work, the better. With many of us, it's all about investing time in things that will bring tangibility and instant gratification - anything other than that is just a waste of time. There is simply no motivation for students to take the initiative to write. It's boring. It's hard. They want no part of it.
If students don't want to worry about their writing skills, someone should. Estimates indicate the lack of writing skills is costing American corporations as much as $3.1 Billion per year. This staggering figure points to the need for someone to be held accountable. One solution for businesses is to thoroughly examine a candidate's work before hiring them. Requesting a mandatory writing portfolio or even presenting a quick writing assessment in an interview wouldn't hurt. Writing ability can be demonstrated in many ways. As a soon-to-be member of the new work force, I wouldn't mind being held to those standards. Many of my peers would not agree. Everyone should stop playing the blame game. Schools or businesses should not be faulted. Writing is personal. Read a book. Write a thank-you note rather than dropping a text. If you cannot write, it will hold you back forever. Practice your writing. The only way to be a great writer is to write.
Keywords: Business Writing; University of Michigan; ACT & SAT; Fundamentals of Business Writing; College Student Writing; Writing Skills;
This post is right on the money! There are no more powerful skills in the world of business than exceptional oral and written communication. Yet, today's culture with PDAs, cell phones, IMs , BBms and the like reduces the communication process to toneless messaging as if we live in a world of Morse code. It is all too easy to hide behind electronic communication and feel safe in a world where you do not actually have to face people and communicate eyeball to eyeball. Writing skills are at the heart of communicating in business - proposals, presentaions, letters, contracts, speeches, marketing materials, etc. are a way of life in business. If we let students into the work force who cannot effectively harness this medium, we are destined to be a nation of illiterates. This posting is simply "write on"!...no pun intended!
I agree. While writing inadequacies are at the heart of this article, it punctuates a much larger communication and societal change underway today. Fewer words, less time, less communication in general. It kind of gives "mailing it in" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?
Jamie- I could not agree more. We hire entry level grads annually and writing is one of the most important skills needed. This along with the ability to present ideas and concepts in a presentation. Always trying to train people on theses issues. Hope you are enjoying your internship. Nice job!
writing is is only one of the bases in a communications home run. you can't be a writer unless you first think about the content; then you've got to be able to speak your thought clearly. But you need to have read others about your creation before you're ready to produce a written word.
As your dad and I would say back in the 1970s : "Write on, baby!!!!"
Your points are well taken Jamie. But all is not lost. The Digital demand for succinct communication is a blessing - E.B. White ("The Elements of Style") might approve, his take on brevity: "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White - has potent applications for the college kids - start a new movement, make the timeless "little book" your writing bible. (Your Dad probably has a copy gathering mold in his basement.)
Jamie, you have made some very valid points. I would also like to point out that our children are no longer asked to write for fun. Students are asked to respond to non-fiction texts because that is what is assessed on the standardized tests.
Eleven years ago, the state writing assessment in RI was based on a prompt that engaged students imagination and creativity; students had fun writing about the topic and the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the standard increased. Unfortunately, the assessments were revamped and the upward trend did not continue. Students must be engaged in the process and learn that writing can be fun. Write On! :-)
Great post.
Per the reference above to Strunk & White, vigorous writing IS concise, and writers who understand that can say plenty in a tweet, especially one that's linked to a more in-depth article or blog post. I like to think of tweets as headlines -- words that capture the essence of a longer piece of writing, and tee it up in a way that compels the reader to read further.
"The Elements of Style" is a great resource for all writers -- and it's a quick and surprisingly engaging read. Another worthy guide, slightly longer but (for my money) more entertaining and thorough, is "On Writing Well," by William Zinsser.
Like E.B. White, Zinsser was a working journalist and editor for many years. Unlike White, he goes beyond the mechanics of grammar and style (although his book includes plenty of that) to suggest approaches to the craft of nonfiction. Even his thoughts on the use of word processors, from the viewpoint of someone who learned his trade in the typewriter era, can be helpful to folks who've always typed on PC keyboards.
One of the the best ways to learn good writing is to read (and study) good writers. As they must to have any credibility, White and Zinsser both walk the walk, with prose that's clear and lively -- even when it focuses on potentially dry topics (adverbs, anyone?).
Another good role model in that vein is Ernest Hemingway, whom an old editor of mine rightly called "the master of the simple declarative sentence."
"A lot of what Hemingway says is nonsense," my boss advised," but pay attention to HOW he says it."
Hemingway's verbs crackle. His prose spurns adornment. His tweets would sing.