|
The topic of our class today is what outside forces are shaping the US ELA classroom today. We started our semester talking about our own experiences in the classroom and what those experiences, good and bad, tell us about what we think should be happening between teacher and student in a literacy classroom. That is one force that shapes us as educators.
On the other end of things are the forces we have no control over and little say, as classroom teachers. We start today's class with a wide focus on the kinds of things people think about, protest about, legislate about--which sometimes means that people other than educators are making decisions about what happens in the classroom. I've asked you to read this 1975 article from Newsweek, "Why Johnny Can't Write." If that title seems familiar to you, it is because, since that appearance, the trope of "why Johnny can't" (or Jane or American Students, etc) do whatever (read, write, code, do algebra, etc) has persisted in education. why_johnny_cant_write__newsweek_1975_.pdf Download File I would like to use this article to frame our discussions this semester. For that to happen, I think it's important to consider what the article is actually saying:
16 Comments
Rowan Kelley
2/4/2021 07:50:09 am
“Why Johnny Can’t Write” is an excellent well written article that covers how the U.S. educational system is spawning a generation of semiliterates. Ronald Berman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, believes that the decline of written English is one of many symptoms of “regression towards the intellectually invertebrate.” Unfortunately, the National Assessment of Educational Progress has also noted how majority of people of all ages use only the simplest sentence structure and elementary vocabulary, which prompts cries of dismay as writing is the basis for almost all formal business communication. Educators believe that students who cannot read with true comprehension will never learn to write well, and by the time they are in college, some consider it being too late to help them. Students now are strongly influenced by the spoken style of television, but even negative effects could be counteracted is students were required to learn the language in the classroom. Unfortunately, there are educators who go about it incorrectly. Many teachers believe creativity should flourish in writing, and ignore poor grammar and sloppy construction, but how are we able to get any results from students who cannot use language as a tool in the first place. Another villain is the school of “structural linguistics” who believe writing is far less important that speech which has influenced the political tract entitled “Students’ Rights to Their Own Language.” While valid, standard English consumes many things, and students must learn how to write so they may learn to think. The first step begins with teachers themselves learning how to write, with educators required to pass tests or attend workshops that help competence in reading and writing. It is vital for educators to allow students to write on whatever interests them and then build from there, with teachers acting as coaches. Very little improvement is likely until the education system recaptures the emphasis on written language being important, but one thing is clearly needed, a renewed emphasis on reading as a discipline and a diversion.
Cedes
2/4/2021 07:50:48 am
“Why Johnny can’t write” highlighted the decline of reading comprehension skills in the last few generations in America. Different issues have contributed to this, such as the rise of television and screens and a lack of adequate teaching. Schools have required less and less reading and students have begun to get away with sloppy writing because in encouraging them to be more creative teachers have been too lax on implementing instruction on proper writing structure. One of the reasons why students these days are so behind in their reading comprehension skills is because their teachers are. Many educators who teach English do not have the skills to properly write and therefore they cannot teach what they do not know. For this reason many schools have focused on re-educating their teachers and staff so that they may in turn offer their students more constructive and beneficial lesson plans.
Andrew Mortarelli III
2/4/2021 07:51:59 am
This article gave a very thorough look into the statistics of the deterioration of vocabulary and mannerisms used in students' writings. It goes on to tell us of how “even the best colleges have failed to master the skills of effective written communication so crucial to their fields.”. Students' writings have fallen so low that some universities are making a requirement for students to pass a “minimum literacy skills” exam in order to receive their diploma. In high schools, instead of having students write full in-depth essays, they are assigned short-answer prompts in an attempt to make the grading easier, thus leaving those students to graduate potentially not having any real experience writing. The English Language is being viewed as a dialect, which it can be considered, however it is also the Language of american people. “You don’t know anything unless you can write it” is not saying to write down what you are saying, it is to understand what you are saying, and to convey it to others in a thorough way. Invoking ideas such as having a mandatory class given until students pass it (whether it be one year or four) to drill in the fundamentals of reading and writing is a step in correcting this downfall of students writing. All Educators can agree that writing is essential. The issue at hand is actually doing something about it.
Angel Walsh
2/4/2021 07:53:41 am
The article “Why Johnny can’t write” written by Merrill Sheils offers interesting insight to why many students cannot write properly. The article gives a lot of textual and evidence and lots of data on why this happening. This reading also offers a lot of studies that were done. One study being the 1969 National Assessment of Educational Progress for Americans aged 9-35. The study showed a worrisome result. The study found that; “9-year-olds showed almost no mastery of basic writing mechanics, that 17-year-olds demonstrated serious deficiencies in spelling vocabulary and sentence structure and that participants over 18 were reluctant to write at all” (Sheils, 1975). These were students who were than going into college and not being able to write properly. The article also talks a lot about how most English teachers were never properly taught and are transferring that students. This reading really sheds some light on to what is wrong with the writing system. Many American students are taught to write, but poorly because their teachers were taught poorly. I believe that this article hits all the right points. We as Americans put too much thought on spoken language and very little onto written language. Speaking from a college student perspective, I believe that the article is right. I was never properly taught to write most of my education career. Coming into college was a shock because I thought I was a great writer until I learned that I had been taught incorrectly. The article states that “by the time they reach college, the professors complain, it is almost too late to help t hem” (Sheils, 1975). While I am not sure where my writing level skill is at today, I know that my writing is a lot stronger than it used to be. So, I do not agree that it is to late to help incoming college students fix their writing, it just takes the right person. The education system is the only one who can fix the writing system, it may not be easy, but it has to get done. No matter what writing is a continuous learning process. There is no one way to fix it, but just understanding that some students may pick writing up quicker than others is a start. Each student is different and the people judging for those that cant write well need to take into account numerous other things that student may have going on in their life.
Olivia Halpin
2/4/2021 07:55:51 am
In the 1975 article “Why Johnny Can’t Write” the author discusses how the US educational system is failing (at all grade levels and into colleges) teaching students to write. Many students graduate from high school and college incapable of producing the level of writing necessary to their fields. There is also the issue of students not being able to write with structure and clarity of idea. Precision of language and clarity of thought in writing have become even more scarce in student's writing. Writing skills are linked to ones reading skills. A quote that stood out to me in “Why Johnny Can’t Write” states “Willy nilly, the US education system is spawning a generation of semiliterates” (1) The article also discusses the importance of learning standard English (and being able to write in it) to achieve the goal of batting higher-ranking jobs in America. Some structural linguist may think it is not essential for students to be able to prescribe to standard language, however it may become important if someone is seeking to have an influential career. Dr. Carlos Baker states in this article that, “Learning to write is learning to think.” As stated before, to write at a higher level, we must be able to read at a higher level and have critical thinking skills. English teachers must know how to write for their students to be able to write. Some school districts have hired English teachers in the past who are not proficient in the area of English and have failed important grammar tests.
Sara McNaughton
2/4/2021 07:56:31 am
This article highlights the growing concern for dropping literacy rates in the United States. The National Assessment of Educational Progress notes that Americans are using the simplest sentence structure and vocabulary. As a result, colleges are finding that many of their freshmen need to enroll in remedial English composition courses. Consequently, students who have poor writing skills go into jobs where their illiteracy concerns their employers. The evidence of nationwide illiteracy is call for concern and urges the need for a solution. The National Assessment of Education Progress suggests that the influence of television is to blame. Whereas there is speculation that overcrowded classrooms and increased workloads are to blame for the inability for students to produce coherent writing. The Bay Area Writing Project tackled this issue head on by creating a five-week summer session for educators. Taught by Berkeley Professors, educators spent time researching writing, examining how to teach it, and created new writing curriculum. The success of this program reverberated through districts in California. Now, there are nationwide efforts to increase literacy rates, beginning with teaching educators. Beneath it all, there is a consensus that students need to be writing as much as possible. Students will learn from engagement in the writing process. Teachers can use their students’ writing as a tool for teaching grammar and syntax. The ideas in this article articulate ways to better teach writing as well as how to encourage students to not be a master of their language, but rather a servant of it. When thinking about my future classroom, I have always envisioned allotting daily class time for journaling/free writing. Although there was an argument in the article about the need for a focus on longer essay assignments, I think there is something to be said about being able to formulate ideas in a concise matter.
Andrew Mortarelli III
2/4/2021 03:12:32 pm
Hi Sara,
Vanessa Semeraro
2/4/2021 08:00:01 am
Why Johnny Can’t Write -2009
Maria Pestilli
2/4/2021 08:06:02 am
The article we read is quite old, but it does have some relevant points but at the same time the article itself has flaws. One thing I want to point out before I answer the questions is that the article was full of spelling and grammar mistakes, which I find ironic since the author is talking about how students cannot write. The article says that the problem with student writing is that it is full of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. It also talks about how students do not vary their sentence structure and brings up the idea that their writing is unintelligible quite a few times, “The NAEP's latest studies show that the essays of 13-and 17-year-olds are far more awkward, incoherent and disorganized than the efforts of those tested in 1969” (Sheils). This article puts some on the blame for student’s inability to write on TVs which I find a bit silly. Yes, television can be distracting but it does not affect a student’s ability to write. The article also tries to blame the teachers themselves, but I feel like the article fails to comment on how the American Education System is flawed. The education system focuses more on writing one big paper than writing everyday which is where the problem lies. The education system needs to focus more on having students get used to writing because writing is hard and the more practice, they get the easier it becomes. Overall, I feel like this article makes a few good points, but it also has quite a few flaws which is damaging for the people who read it.
Courtney Beale
2/4/2021 08:07:51 am
In the article “Why Johnny Can’t Write,” the author explains the frightening decline of writing skills and competency when analyzing students in the United States. This piece dives into three basic parts: what the problem is, why it’s a problem in the first place, and what areas around the United States are doing in order to fix this problem. It is explained that this “steady erosion of reading skills” started way back in 1965. As time has passed, students reading levels have dropped significantly. 17 and 18-year-olds that are entering a four-year college don’t attain the ability to read at the twelfth-grade level, which is the baseline for college students. Similarly to this, college graduates “no longer fit the bill,” due to their inability to create documents with effective written communication. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation is diminishing, even among the top 12.5 percent of high schools that are attending prestigious schools. If a child struggles with reading, you can’t expect them to have proper writing skills. Dr. Ramon Veal explains that “Writing is, after all, book talks” (2). These literacy problems stem back to the education that these students receive in grade school. Wanting to get to the root of this problem, researchers have gone back and analyzed the quality of instruction that these students receive in high school. They found that many teachers don’t have the training or education in English composition or the teaching of writing. So many schools have placed an emphasis on creative writing and completely trashed the basic conventions of writing. Those being grammar, structure, and style. Refusing to implement the basics of writing results in students not being able to “use the language as a tool in the first place” (3). Some school districts have taken this problem into their own hands. Some areas started with going directly to the root of the problem and demanded that the teachers attend workshops that educate them on how to create meaningful writing instruction. Other areas implemented a teaching exam where educators must receive a certain score to show their competence. Some areas focused on the student’s performance and required them to pass a basic English class to show that they had the basic skills of reading and writing. There are many ways to fix this problem. It all comes down to the people that are willing to make the change. As a college student who wants to become an educator, this piece constructed a compelling and important argument that needs to be talked about. Students are unable to thrive when they’re being deprived of the basic and fundamental skills needed for writing. Simply giving up on your students because you think it’s “too late” completely contradicts what it means to be an educator. This article opens the doors and gives individuals the opportunity to educate themselves on the problem that the United States is facing, in addition to what they can do to help stop this decline in American literacy.
Patricia Diaz
2/4/2021 08:59:48 am
In the 1975 article titled Why Johnny Can't Write, it's argued that students are coming into college with low writing skills compared to previous years. College entrance exams have shown how students tend to write in simple sentences using vocabulary below what is expected for their grade and without following proper grammar or sentence structure. One of the reasons presented in the text is because instead of dedicating time to read, many have adopted the form of entertainment that television provides them. Another reason is that educators or school districts do not put emphasis on correcting or improving students’ writing if the students do not have a form of disability when they have reached a certain age. Even if some educators wanted to help, they cannot since they don’t have a background in composition. In order to fix these problems, some organizations have dedicated their summers to educating teachers in composition. Some educators have decided to have their students write about their interests and have decided to put on a stronger emphasis on reading.
DANIELLE DELAROCA
2/4/2021 06:28:36 pm
"Why Johnny Can't Write" is from 1975. The key points I took from this article is that students English writing abilities were rapidly declining and they got this data from Standardized testing, applications, essays, and through their professors/teacher’s assessments. Something I found interesting is they at first, tried to blame children watching TV. What they later went on to establish though is that TV and audiovisuals are actually a pretty useful tool for learning english. Especially considering many non-native English speakers use it to help them. Another point I found interesting was when they stated that many teachers attempted to emphasize creativity and did not stress grammar, structure, or style and that there are no real standards for any language, except the way it is commonly spoken. The last point I noted was how teachers should be direct instructors. I know they sort of debunked the idea of coaching but I think coaching seems helpful too. If a student is weak in writing and on how a language is put together, we have to give them exercises and a beginning book, not an expert one and direct good writing, not expect it immediately.
Catie Mullen
2/6/2021 10:19:37 am
The main idea of the article "Why Johnny Can't Write," is about how many people don't know how to write Standard English. Teaching and learning Standard English or how to write a well thought and organized paper, is not as important anymore as it used to be. The article brings up the point a lot that many people today think that spoken English is superior to written English. It has been said that teenagers writing performance is going downhill and one of the reasons is because of television. The writing ability, even among the most educated people has fall so far so fast. Another point that was brought up multiple times was that students have trouble organizing their thoughts. In this case then, the essay or the piece they are writing won't be organized or easy to follow. Many teachers nowadays don't care for students to write well thought out essays. Instead, they will have them write a paragraph or two about something, just because it is easier and quicker to grade. It was highlighted in the article that to deny students the learning of Standard English is wrong.
Catie Mullen
2/6/2021 09:31:39 pm
The article I found was "Why Johnny Still Can't Read" and was published on February 7, 2019. This was a very recent article so, I wanted to read analyze this article because I was curious to see who the writer blamed the childrens' lack of reading skills on in this day in age. "Why Johnny Still Can't Read" was an article written in 1975. The way children are taught has changed over time. Overall, the write said it was the teachers fault for the poor reading skills. This is very similar to the article we discussed in class, "Why Johnny Can't Write." Martin Cothran says in the "Why Johnny Still Can't Read" article that, "Because of shortcomings in how teachers are educated , children are failing to learn essential skills. The article started off by emphasizing on how important the study of phonics is when teaching children how to read. Martin Cohen brings to the readers attentions that teachers were disregarding this known fact of phonics being successful in teaching children to read. In my opinion, if this is the case then administrators need to take charge and provide their teachers the proper classes to being educated on teaching reading to their students. The article "Why Johnny Can't Write" brought up how the Board of Education in Stamford Ct is requiring all teachers employed to pass a test written and spoken in standard English- I think this is great based on the fact that in this article many people can go through college not taking a single English class to be an English teacher. I am currently taking this class on teaching writing and another class all about phonics for my Foundations of Reading MTEL. Sometimes, future educators may need to do their own research besides taking classes that are required. I am not required to take a phonics class, but I chose to because I know it is going to provide me with the best education to properly teach my students in the future.
Maire-Elizabeth Shole
2/9/2021 06:11:17 am
Why Johnny can’t write is an article written by Merrill Sheils and published in Newsweek, that tackles the decline of literacy and writing ability in the modern school systems. The articles jumps right into saying that most college students can’t write on the expected level for their age and that most high school students never will gain a talent for college-level writing, there’s a very defeatest tone to the article as it talks about how literacy is dying and pointing fingers at things like television and “creative teaching,” not instilling standards on students. The article also gives some suggestions for teaching students the right way to write. This article pushed me the wrong way, the idea that it seemed to be pushing is that there is only one right format for professional writing and that everything else is inherently wrong and students can’t read or write. In my opinion, this article reeks of both elitist and defeatist attitudes toward classroom writing and writing in the world as a whole. The attitude this article takes can easily damage a students faith in their ability t write and worse to learn as a whole, a student should never be told by a teacher that their work is garbage, as that can make them believe that’s all they will ever be capable of, and this comes from experience. While the article also makes a few valid points, such as issues with spelling and grammar, that fault does not rest on television or the students alone, it lies in part with the schools and teachers. Schools teach increasingly to the test, we’ve reached a point where standardized testing is more important than whether or not the students are actually picking up anything, students are pushed to the next grade without learning anything, so things like spelling and grammar are bound to suffer, that won’t change until schools rediscover the value of learning for life rather than the test, with that in mind it is never acceptable to tear down a student’s work, as long as an idea gets across to the reader, there is no wrong way to write.
Sydney Silverman
2/11/2021 07:50:23 pm
Based on the article, "Why Johnny cant Write,"which was published on December 8th, 1975, the writing styles of young students are heavily criticized. The article believes that children's writing capabilities weaken year by year, and children and college students writing abilities are still questioned today. If I look back on my four years of high school, I believe I personally did very well in all of my English classes, but I don't remember receiving any lessons or lectures on grammar as this article complains is an issue. The article stands by it's point, "But audiovisual techniques, as well as television itself, are here to stay, and now a number of concerned teachers and researchers are beginning to suggest that they be used to promote-not replace-the study of the written language."(4) Perhaps the growing and continually increasing use of excessive technology might partially be to blame for poor skills in writing. I personally do not agree with this idea entirely. I am sure my peers will agree with me when I say that I wish I could go back in time and use any knowledge I have at this moment to technique my old essays and assignments. I may just be surprised that the essays I felt were perfect, weren't so perfect. I guess with this thought in mind, I am proving my point that technology is NOT entirely to blame for poor writing skills. Leave a Reply. |
Torda's
|
RSS Feed