Have you noticed a decline in writing skills?
“I love Agnostic.com because of the intelligent, wise and funny posts,” I told an atheist friend four months ago. Since then, I have been shocked by poor writing in many posts.
Writing is a way to communicate your thoughts, feelings and opinions. It’s an essential skill in everyday life.
Many posts pose vague questions. Scratches head.
Obscure Acronyms. Often I ask what it means. Men get defensive. It's not worth asking.
For decades, American schools have not taught writing composition. As a college professor, I was shocked by students’ poor writing ability.
“It’s not just that students aren’t demonstrating critical thinking skills in their writing, basic competencies like proper syntax, spelling, and even proper structure like paragraph indentation and how to cite sources are being done very poorly,” college professor Azadeh Aalai, Ph.D. wrote in “Why Can’t College Students Write Anymore?” Psychology Today, Feb. 21, 2014.
Other reasons citied in studies are the rise of social media and the decline in reading books. This week I learned a new word, “anodyne,” from a Time magazine article on the wonderful Netflix series, “Queer Eyes, Season 2.” Anodyne means “anything that relives distress or pain.”
Like a carpenter studying how expert carpenters build, I learn good writing by reading great books. Reading also builds my vocabulary.
Since 2006, as a volunteer college mentor, I help students write essays for college and scholarship applications. These are excellent students. But they struggle with writing. I thought it was because English is their second language. They also aren’t learning writing skills in school.
So, I teach students writing and organization, to carry forward in college and life.
Your thoughts?
Here's my daughter, Claire, at five months, turning a page with her foot. We read to her from birth.
Starting at age three, Claire was only allowed to watch three, 30-minute TV shows per week. Claire got to pick the shows. She never played video games.
At 18, Claire went on a European art tour with her artist dad. When she became bored in art museums, she read books. Claire is on the right.
Claire, 28, still enjoys reading and is an excellent writer. There's hope.
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33 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I find much of it is born of straight-up laziness.
People are just too damned lazy to write, or speak, properly.
KKGator
Level 9
June 23, 2018
8
dc65:
The cell phone is causing people to be lazy and abbreviate constantly also the small keys cause a lot of misspelled words. I'm even lazy now I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking because it is so much easier than typing and you have voice recognition on cell phones also.
@dc65 I use a cell phone, and I do not abbreviate, and I DO correct auto-correct.
I text in full sentences. I spell out words instead of using single letters.
I do not accept excuses for the lackadaisical manner in which some people choose to communicate.
One only becomes lazy if they ALLOW themselves to become lazy.
It displays a complete lack of character.
I think it's just making bad writers more visible. They've been around as long as writing has.
memorylikeasieve
Level 7
June 24, 2018
5
True, but bad writing was never in the past seen as a virtue.
I see a tremendous decline in writing and speaking ability everyday until I get tired of seeing Trump and change the channel.
Dionysus6
Level 5
June 24, 2018
8
“Tremendous”!!!
Great points. Very good points. Yeah. The best.
Thank you for this. My own writing skills aren't great, and I've worked hard over the years to improve, overcoming my lack of effort to master good writing in school. Too few realize the connection between good writing and sound thinking.
Related, how many posts on this site bemoan bad dating experiences with someone met on-line? I've argued that notwithstanding those who occasionally slip through your screen, a critical read of how someone describes themselves in their profile can eliminate most of these bad experiences. A cliche laden, poorly written profile, and follow up exchanges, should be a good indicator. It doesn't take much work to see this. And to a point you raise, if you gently chide someone about their writing and they get defensive, probably best to move on.
Again, thank you.
Mitch07102
Level 8
June 24, 2018
4
Wow, don't even get me started on this one. I joined a free dating site a of weeks ago and it is astounding how many people have zero self-awareness of how their poor or non-existent grammar, carelessly composed messages, and empty profiles come across. It makes me seriously question if there e is intelligent life in the online dating world. I mean, some of these guys have the writing skills of first graders. No, scratch that. I've met first graders who express themselves much more eloquently.
@smallblueflowers 62 million people voted for Trump. Half of the population is to the left of the midpoint. And that's before dogma, intolerance and all of the other bad stuff.
We don't really teach writing in the US. I went through the entire US education system. I still had to read "The Elements of Style" to learn one evident and effective writing style. It had nothing to do with the curriculum. Teachers teach one or two grammar rules, they don't assign the relevant readings, then they ask for an essay, as if someone is just supposed to learn expectations like "keep everything in the same tense" and those other things that are necessary for assuming one of the acceptable language forms.
DZhukovin
Level 7
June 24, 2018
4
YES! To improve your writing, I love:
- "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White.
- "Writing Down the Bones" and "Wild Mind" by Natalie Goldberg.
- "Writing with Power- Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process" by Peter Elbow.
- "The Elements of Grammar" by Margaret Shertzer.
Awesome!!! You are playing at my personal interests, now.
Do you know how much college english I have taken? I took AP lang, AP lit, technical writing and then two more english college courses.
I also write in different subjects in my spare time, one of which is comedic novels.
So it's like an Associate's in the English language.
@LiterateHiker You might want to give a peek at:
The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker.
Pinker (who is the chair of the American Heritage Usage Panel) explains where Strunk and White were coming from and then explains and updates the suggestions. (He doesn't call them rules as every rule has an exception.) It has a nice mix of suggestions and technical explanation that I think might appeal to your interests.
@RPardoe
Thank you! I will read the book you suggested. Appreciate your suggestions.
Kathleen
My beef is that literacy is taught to people who have nothing interesting or useful to say.
Gareth
Level 7
June 24, 2018
3
Ha!
As a college professor, I have been shocked at both the poor writing and math skills of my students. Spelling, grammar, idea construction, HANDWRITING... I sometimes wonder how my students graduated high school.
AstroLou
Level 5
June 24, 2018
5
I am horrified with how the younger generation handwrites. It seems that they are only get so much practice with it and then they are on to using computers as a substitute. Then when they have to complete forms by hand, you can hardly read the writing. It is quite obvious that the education system does not focus on penmanship as much as they used to. Handwriting has become an art.
It's not much better here in the UK. I may be guilty of these flaws too and I'm over 50 with a thesis behind me. I find it interesting that it is a sign of things to come. Where the need to know diminishes as new technology supplements us in ever new and innovative ways. The crafts of old become woven into passive technology aiding us without us even noticing.
I wonder what the long term implications of this means to us as a race? Do we become dumber or smarter?
Nardi
Level 7
June 24, 2018
5
I think we're become dumber. And it is starting in the U.S. We have a reality star "running" the country and we've all seen his wife naked. The owner of the Bunny Ranch Brothel was just elected as an assemblyman in Nevada. Who knows what the future holds.
Yes, I have noticed that. One of the trends that I dislike that encourages this drop in literate thought is the increase in posting a video or recording spoken thoughts rather then writing them out. I strongly dislike having to listen to videos as I can scan a written document much faster then I can scrub a video. (And scrubbing usually mutes the sound, so it is much more of a guess where to skip to.)
(As an aside, the best class I took in junior high was touch typing - a skill that I continue to use today. Of course, I admit my penmenship is horrible - almost a shorthand that only I can read - so I use it purely for rough drafts and organizing ideas that I later type out. If written, I do print (not cursive) my thoughts.)
I know what you mean about acronyms, but working in technical field, I am used to it. I was always taught that any acronym/abbreviation should be explained the first time it is used. But it is still a problem that my company has an "acronym server" on its internal website to help folks understand things.
But back to your original premise. I find that many posts are of the formula.....vague statement with a request to discuss. I would like to know what the poster is thinking, why, and what sorts of questions and comments they might wish from others?
Of course, I say this (and am typing this) via a keyboard while logged on via a browser interface. Perhaps using a mobile app makes it harder (due to the phones touchscreen) to compose thoughts as the input speed is too slow.
Of course, as I look back at the above, I see that I am rambling in my thoughts. Answering a point here, a comment there is a bit of stream of consciousness response. So let me try to wrap it up with a final thought.
I agree that vocabulary is increased by continuing to read. Not only for the vocabulary, but to see thoughts organized and presented (yes, I tend to read more non-fiction than fiction). It is a joy to read well-written material.
RPardoe
Level 7
June 24, 2018
3
I worked in my dad’s law office for years. He often marveled at how someone could pass the bar when they couldn’t write a coherent paragraph. And this was around 2000.
A2Jennifer
Level 8
June 24, 2018
4
I owned a bookstore for 25 years. I gave up because I could not compete with Amazon. But I also gave up because my loyal customers, the ones that came in week after week died off. Young people just stopped coming in. Oh sure, there were Harry Potter blips of book buying, or Hunger Games. But by and large, kids stopped reading. Not exciting enough, too boring, nothing interested them....those were answers I got. And the ready slowdown mirrored the rise of cell phone use. Teens would come in with their parents and never browse the stacks while their mom shopped but sit on the couch in the coffee section and stare at their cell phones. Reading takes effort but the slower pace helps one reflect on what they read.
yamaha45701
Level 7
June 24, 2018
3
You're right. The slower pace of reading helps one reflect on what they read.
We turned our daughter Claire, 28, into a reader by reading to her from birth. The last book I gave Claire was "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed.
At 18, Claire went on a European art tour with her artist Dad. Bored in art museums, she read books. Claire is the dark-haired beauty on the right. She is half-Spanish.
I did charity work for many years assisting in the managing of a charity shop.
Shortly before I stopped working their, a management directive came down instructing that a number of items were no longer to be accepted as donations because they did not sell, cluttered up space and cost more to get rid of than they were worth.
Top of the list was VHS video cassettes , which was fair enough
However second on the list was
Books
I not sure if your talking about the spelling errors or the sentence construction errors. A lot of the spelling errors I blame on three things; 1. Auto correct making changes that do not get caught because on the phone screens it difficult to see them; 2. Too small of a key board, fingers get clumsy, and 3. finally, by htere is a tendency to finish your thought and right away your finger goes up to post it before going back an editing.
If it's sentence structure, that'a deeper intellectual issue.
t1nick
Level 8
June 23, 2018
3
It's true what you say about essay writing. My science students couldn't write a decent answer to an esssay question if they had to. Even if I give them the essay question in advance and have them prepare a well constructed argument.
Because media aad technology does most everything for students they have become intellectually lazy. And media short cuts erode the fabric and texture of our language
@t1nick
Excellent point. Thank you. As a college mentor, I found high school seniors have trouble writing a personal essay. They don't know how to sell themselves. Boys, especially, are not taught to be self-reflective.
To generate ideas, I interview the student and take excellent notes. ( Learned fast note-taking in graduate school.) Afterward, I read the notes and highlight gems. We build essays using their spoken gems.
Students are masters of the run-on sentence. I teach them to write concisely. Cut out the fluff. Use strong, potent words. Put a short sentence between longer ones. Like this. Avoid starting sentences and paragraphs with the word "I." It reads like a jackhammer: "I I I I I."
Each year, I ask students what key thing they learned from me, that they will carry forward in college and life. Since 2006, students I mentored learned:
-
Stop procrastinating. Do my work early before the deadline.
-
Write concisely.
@t1nick I had to tutor a prospective maths major in basic grammar and sentence structure else he wouldn't pass his high school English classes. In 1993. It predates the internet.
@LiterateHiker It took me a long time to learn to write. For my Masters thesis I wrote six short stories that were very Hillerman-like. The catch in the stories was that I didn't finish the story. My students had to read the story, do a lab experiment similar to the circumstances found in the story. Once the students ran the data, they wrote the ending of the story as a part of their lab write-up. The biggest problem that I encountered writing the stories was trying to avoid the passive voice, and remain consistent with the tense, i.e. going from present to past, visa versa.
I really didn't really hone my writing skills until I became active in the poetry society in my area. Once I began writing poetry I began to learn about breath. What I mean by this is that a poetic line should be no longer than what a natural breath can handle without straining. Once reached a pause (comma or other grammerical stop) is inserted. This is how I learned to write with more conciseness and clarity. This extended beyond my poetry to my technical writing as well.
Definitely a decline in writing. Most of it due to the school system not focusing in writing instead of regurgitation through multiple choice exams. The other culprit is the short hand texts that people can't differentiate from actual good writing. However, all people make typos too and sometimes fragments can be appropriate to make a point, like my first fragment on this post.
Mom-goddess
Level 6
June 24, 2018
3
I'm sorry your daughter finds art museums boring. They are more interesting to me than books. I guess it takes all types. 
AstralSmoke
Level 8
June 24, 2018
3
To her credit, Claire always attends her father's art show openings. Both of our homes are filled with art, sculptures and pottery.
In Europe, Claire got tired of endless art museums. The did other activities, too. As tennis players, in England Claire and Terry attended Wimbledon and saw Roger Federer win.
With Claire in mind, Terry chose a Rick Steves tour for families. The tour had five teenagers from across America, including Claire. The teens had a separate table for meals. They loved it.
@LiterateHiker I know you are a multifaceted person and I'm sure your kids can't help to be as well.
I'm doing the best I know how with my kids. They're turning out alright ... so far. They read at least 30 min everyday. I'm not a big reader, so I'm not going to make them, but I am a very visually based individual and want them to experience as much of the outdoors as possible.
And I understand the overwhelming feeling of too much art. I'm brain dead and have to do something else. Yes, I agree that there are lots of opportunities to read if you have something to read.
And cultural awareness is essential. I have to travel more with my kids.
Not really. I'm 65 years old, but when I first came to the US for college in 1970, I was shocked at the poor writing and reading skills of most American college students, even in my exclusive, expensive, private college.
This was so frustrating for the professors, they ended up calling on me to read when anything was supposed to be read aloud in class, since I seemed to be the only person who could read aloud fluently, without stumbling and struggling over most of the words.
When I attended a regular university for my Masters, I discovered that many of the lower level profs seldom read either, and resented it when I showed that I could and did read.
Two of them complained about me being in their classes and making them feel ignorant, because they didn't have "time to read" all the stuff I was apparently reading on the subjects.
Three different professors told me to change classes for making them feel foolish in class, but I told them I had a class schedule to keep and since they had Ph.Ds surely they knew SOMETHING I didn't know.
birdingnut
Level 8
June 24, 2018
2
Just being Devil's Advocate now, is it 'zee' or 'zed'? Is it 'z' or 's' in realize/realise etc.? Is it colour or color? Is it center or centre? Spellcheck frequently tells me I am wrong! 
Geoffrey51
Level 8
June 24, 2018
3
It's only Zee, zeds, and missing U's in Yanklish. English is proper and has zeds and U's and all that.
I agree and I think a lot of things are to blame. Texting takes time and shortcuts transcend to everyday writing habits. Things like spell checker makes us lazy and often it is easier to simply correct a new word instead of looking up the meaning. I read a lot (mostly periodicals - the Smithsonian, National Geographic, the Atlantic, Humanist and so on). I have read a lot and often some obscure word pops into my head but I look it up before using it. Unfortunately languages change and sometimes not for the better. One thing I've noticed is that language too often cannot get meanings across and too often people take offense at things they should not have. Language comes in many forms (body language is a biggie) and too often they become a form of separation instead of unity.
I once went with a former partner to a counselor. He said communication was the biggest problem in relationships. He told us he is married and, even though, he understands the importance of communication it is still sometimes a tripping point for his relationship.
There is one other item that, I think, has been overlooked and that is our increasing number of immigrants. My late partner was from Iran. She did not speak any English when she came here (at 24) but in 5 years graduated from a university. Her English was impecable but she always had problems with the writing. Farsi is completely different from English and concepts are often hard to grasp. When she did her masters and went through the recertification program I did most of the writing. She dictated her ideas and I put them into writing. I think this is common in countries with a high immigration level.
JackPedigo
Level 9
June 24, 2018
2
Thanks for your thoughtful reply.
Like you, I heavily edited and essentially wrote my ex-husband's master's degree thesis. With verbal diarrhea, Terry writes like he talks. The king of run-on sentences.
Good thing I enjoyed the subject: learning styles theories of Howard Gardner, Ph.D. Terry was a schoolteacher.
"Omit needless words!" William Strunk cries in "The Elements of Style."
I boiled down three pages of Terry's writing into two, clear paragraphs.
@Spudnut
Everyone has different strengths. Your funny comment resonates with me:
"When it came to writing, however ~ just shoot me." Hilarious!
@LiterateHiker Parvin was an elementary school teacher and writing, for that level, was easy. However, Farsi is so different it is hard to assimilate the writing styles. For one thing Farsi has no articles and that constantly gave her problems. German has the opposite problem. articles are critical and gender specific. Besides she was an extreme extrovert and writing is for introverts. Beside, she had me and I had her to do do the verbal, personal things with other people.
@JackPedigo
You say writing is for introverts? I disagree.
As an outgoing extrovert, I am a published author.
True. I think people experiment with shortcuts in writing in order to save time and make it simple - all caps, all lower case, no punctuation, etc...
I tried these ideas myself but found that making the effort to write “correctly” was actually faster, esp. as the communication read better and prevented miscommunication.
There’s also basic proofreading people don’t do like they should.
This is probably the number one writing skill people must and DON’T practice!
But people are on different places in the strata of taking shortcuts, while learning and developing better writing skills...
It’s just there’s just SO MUCH of bad writing now!
I have to think that’s because more and more people are typing text...
AND I think it’ll be getting WORSE as ‘voice texting’ gets used more!
Don’t get me started on COMPUTER VOICES 
“communication it is still sometimes a tripping point for his relationships”
As a musician, I have really been pushing this as the need for people to simply LISTEN thoroughly.
I’ve never seen an argument where the people were listening COMPLETELY to each other!
I think this applies all the way in life - relationships between and among people, to include countries.
Just listening to (communicating with) yourself is vital to your own life.
We may have two eyes as well as two ears, but eyes regularly shut and are easily blocked, while ears NEVER turn off!
Even if you try to plug them with your fingers you hear the vibrations in your body!
@LiterateHiker Than I would say you are an exception. Introverts would rather sit and write than stand and speak. I have also been published but am not an extrovert.
The fact that many in this site... are answering posts and posting from their mobile phones do not help with those fat fingers typing. We do the entry and move on to correct the mistakes 3 days later if ever.
GipsyOfNewSpain
Level 9
June 24, 2018
2
To improve your writing, I recommend:
"Writing Down the Bones- Freeing the Writer Within" and "Wild Minds" by Natalie Goldberg.
LiterateHiker
Level 9
June 24, 2018
1
Wonderful references. Those books inspired me as well.
Glad to hear it. Thank you for your kind reply.
Just reading Writing Down the Bones for the third time. I mainly write in my journal, for me, but would love to learn how to write something that others would want to read.
LenHazell53
Level 9
June 24, 2018
2
Very funny!
Well, I have damn sure seen some PITIFUL writing skills... Even by college students!!
But I wonder if that’s because more and more people are typing text who normally never would have, and most are chatting in a hurry and simply DON’T CARE how it reads...
So many people say - “as long as you can figure out what I’m saying...”!!!
Translation apps feature an English language category for each country’s English!!
Maybe we need IGNORAMUS English !
Ungod
Level 6
June 24, 2018
2
"Maybe we need IGNORAMUS English"
We have it is called the collected writings of EL James
It would also help if you spelt correctly!
Coldo
Level 8
June 24, 2018
2
Spelt and spelled is comparable to handed and hung it the correct spelling depends upon the context.
When a child spells out a word letter by letter the past tense is spelled
When a discussing the correct for form of spelling in the past tense for a word as a whole the correct word is spelt.
@LenHazell53 Talking about "American English"
@Coldo
There is no such thing as American English, there is English and there are mistakes 
@Bendog
An Englishman and a Scotsman were having a conversation and the American says "quit harassing people because they are Americans"
I never did fully understand colonial humour old chap, pip pip, toodloo, wot wot and all that rot.
@Bendog
Erm, if you really want to know, there are things called "Profiles"
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