Has it really gotten this bad with the American public education system?

Question

I'm taking a graduate level course for a Ph.D., and the class was given a research paper assignment wherein we had to defend or reject the notion that paradigms influence scientific research. I did what I thought was a very half-assed job at it, I mean, REALLY just phoning it in, so to speak, but I did make sure all my words were properly spelled, verbs and subjects agreed in tense, etc. I thought for sure I was done for...

Got an email from my professor this morning, saying "Your essay really brightened an otherwise bad morning. For the first time in a long time, I have a student that can write logically, creatively, and interestingly."

Makes me scared to think how bad the other students wrote! Is writing a lost art?

My professor is extremely bright. He's English, graduated from Oxford, and he's old as dirt, so I know he's wise and experienced. SO, where do you fall on Kuhn's paradigm theory, Dickn2000?

Answer 1

The answer to your main question: YES
It is a sad commentary that our public education system has shifted its focus to standardized tests and has relied heavily on such test results to pass (or not pass) our youngsters. I have no aversion to standardized tests BUT it should not be used as the sole gauge that our students are getting educated. Yes, it has gotten so bad that even students are now complaining that all they do is review, review, review for such tests - that's like rote memorization - not the same as learning. But our poor teachers are not to be blamed entirely. School budgets are determined by how well (or how poorly) they score on such tests so they have no recourse but to put much emphasis on it, to the exclusion of everything else. Gone are the days when our kiddos really get to learn and master the 3Rs. Sad indeed!

Is writing a lost art? It sure would seem so. You don't have to look far. Just look at a cross-sampling of questions/answers we see here right in this site. Sad indeed!

Re: the paper you submitted. The fact that you put great effort to make sure that your grammar and your spelling is above par is enough to make any professor jump with joy. And I'm sure too that you did present some good, valid arguments, fake or not.
Besides, no professor should give any student a bad grade for a bad opinion. But any student should get a poor grade for an opinion paper is that poorly written, even if his opinion speaks volume of validity.

We're on the same page, man.

Answer 2

About 40 years ago, I earned a couple of PhD's in electrical engineering and applied physics. Believe me, the quality of the students then was exactly as you describe. But I will admit the quality of my profs was excellent. There wasn't a dumb one in the bunch. It sounds as if that has changed, and that the overall dumbing down of America has reached the level of professors.

Is writing a lost art? Sadly, all one must do is read most of the questions posted in this forum, to reach the conclusion that the answer is, "yes."

Answer 3

I agree with you that writing is a lost art form. For evidence all you really have to do is look through the questions being posted on Yahoo answers. Some people (not all) have very poor writing skills. And that is with a spell check function available.

Answer 4

I was wondering the same thing. I seem to be the only one in my class that can ace a multiple gue...oops I mean choice exam.
On a serious note though, maybe you are not giving yourself enough credit. Some people can do what they consider to be a half-assed job (for their own standards), yet it puts the average Joe to shame! Be proud of yourself!