Diagnostic Essay: Rudimentary Skills

Improved Essays
Diagnostic Essay

Writing is the most basic and effective form of communication that has been used for countless years. This rudimentary skill is something that the average high-schooler could be considered effective in, mainly due to the repetition of writing creative and analytical pieces as well as the consistent grammar exercises done during each class. Most students would consider their senior year of high school to be their final year of writing, and are reluctant to dispose of their literacy skills once they reach college. However, writing courses should be required in order to obtain an university degree, because they are an essential part of a student’s curriculum, as well as a way to prepare students to communicate with their
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When most students chose their major, they take into account which courses peaked their interest or what they excelled in throughout their academic lives, and look to continue their study in that field. Some students may have despised the creative and analytical writing assignments over the years, and would chose to study a major such as finance or biology in order to avoid the subject. When this occurs, the students are unknowingly robbing themselves of valuable tips and lessons for writing, as well as not being able to retain the previous skills they acquired. The students become too focused on how many points the DOW has fallen to notice that they didn’t capitalize any letters in their business report. Even though the example provided may come across as a harmless joke, atrocious writing is an epidemic spreading throughout the United States, and the source is at the colleges and universities. Business Insider reported that an estimated 40% of students who opt out of taking English during their four years of college will be significantly weaker writers than those who take the basic courses and develop their writing abilities at a higher level. I understand that analyzing a novel and writing a five paragraph paper isn’t appealing to everyone, but writing courses should still be a requirement to earn a university degree. A plan proposed by the head of the English department at Columbia University, was to have students take writing courses tailored to their major, so they wouldn’t consider the class to be a waste of time, and would be focused on retaining the skills they learned in the course. The idea would be that business majors would be able to learn how to write business reports as a way to prepare for their first internship, and biology majors would be able to practice writing lab reports for the

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