An invitation to our students to write on!
It should come as a surprise to no one that we hold the ability to write, and write well, in high regard. Sure, we have our share of attempts at fine writing that fail, but we strive to succeed much more often. And we never stop striving.
So it should be in our schools. And so we were perhaps more interested than average suburbanites to read recently in our own publication that Illinois eighth-graders outperformed most of their peers on a well-regarded national writing exam.
That is heartening news indeed, but there was much more conveyed in the story written by Daily Herald Staff Writer Emily Krone.
On a test called the Nation's Report Card, Illinois eighth-graders met or exceeded the scores of their peers from 41 of 45 participating states. Still, just 37 percent of them tested as "proficient" or above in writing.
Why? Writing often is overlooked in our school systems that are focused on improving test scores in other areas.
The unvarnished truth is this: We are obsessed with testing our children, primarily in subjects other than writing. And now, thanks in no small part to the national No Child Left Behind law, test results that don't show progress mean schools respond by spending more time hammering the sagging subjects to the detriment of others. After all, if teachers don't produce improved scores, the threat of financial and other penalties hangs over our children, their teachers and administrators.
College educators, employers and, yes, editors will tell you writing has suffered mightily. Is it a dying art? It should be a vibrant necessity, not a subject left behind in the fixation with No Child Left Behind.
Writing promotes higher-level thinking in all subjects, noted Cathy D'Agostino, an English teacher at New Trier High School in Winnetka and a writing consultant for the College Board.
"It's essentially what teaches kids to think," D'Agostino said, "and it needs to be taught in every subject."
We could not agree more. Our children need to learn how to think. They need to think critically, to read and comprehend and process ideas and analyze and communicate them. Truly, is there a single role in our society that doesn't require the ability to write, and therefore communicate, clearly?
We applaud our math, science and social science teachers who, Krone reported, more often are requiring students to keep journals. The regular writing allows teachers to see how students are comprehending their lessons. We encourage more teachers to use journaling and reading and writing essays, memos, book reports and term papers so that writing scores on the Nation's Report Card continue to soar.
An old newspaper marketing campaign once shouted to the world that "Readers are leaders." Sure, we're biased, but we believe terrific readers and writers are our most successful leaders.