How Do We Teach The Right Way To Write?

For over a decade, I have known that the single biggest complaint our colleges have about their incoming freshmen is that they don’t know how to write very well. My position was that yes, the typical student could stand to work a little harder and improve their writing skills. That was before I had the opportunity to see a large number of essays written by students who are only a year into the secondary level of their education.

Some of the work was surprisingly descriptive and many of the students were clever and witty with the points they made. The trouble with most of the essays was that they had little to do with the prompt on which they were to base their essays. For every clever and well-crafted essay there were three that were virtually incoherent. Just as with some of my clients that are juniors I high school, many of these young writers wrote the way they speak and that is seldom a good thing.

The teachers that I was able to talk with are more than aware of the problem and work hard to improve both the verbal and written communication skills of their students. There is just not enough emphasis placed on written communication. Writing has not received the publicity and funding that STEM programs presently enjoy. What our education decision-makers fail to understand is that a genius can be easily overlooked if they cannot communicate their unique observations adequately.

I have enjoyed a great deal of success helping clients, friends and relatives put their thoughts and ideas on paper and it is very rewarding. It has also helped dozens of high school seniors gain acceptance to their dream colleges. What I do not have is an answer for helping students in the general student population improve their writing skills, but finding a solution is always there in the back of my mind. I am open to suggestions if you have a good idea or a plan…