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LeftyMom

(49,212 posts)

37. I spent all of junior high English writing prompt-driven plug and chug five paragraph essays.

Wed Mar 5, 2014, 11:40 PM

Mar 2014

At the time I hated them. They were mind-numbing. But every time since I've had to write an in-class essay on some stupid prompt or another for a midterm? I've blessed Mrs. Ebbage and those awful rote essays.

I do think assessing a student's ability to fart out two handwritten pages of weapons grade BS in response to a stupid prompt is probably a better predictor of college success than their ability to do those endless analogy questions or decipher obscure vocabulary words using their Latin roots.

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SAT to drop essay requirement as part of overhaul [View all] DonViejo Mar 2014 OP

Sounds like they're trying to up their profit margin. I'm sure they're totally magnanimous. CurtEastPoint Mar 2014 #1

I'm thinking this as well. madaboutharry Mar 2014 #3

Computer scored all the way exboyfil Mar 2014 #5

Considering that "the ability to bullshit on demand" is an absolute prerequisite... TygrBright Mar 2014 #11

And we have our thread winner. Brigid Mar 2014 #33

Their profit margin has to be pretty good already.. olddad56 Mar 2014 #12

You don't get rid of them until you have decided that you will not attend amandabeech Mar 2014 #13

Bing bing! Stuckinthebush Mar 2014 #15

Why not. Young people today have such a poor vocabulary question everything Mar 2014 #2

BTW, isn't it 'yung ppl'? CurtEastPoint Mar 2014 #4

OOps... question everything Mar 2014 #7

FTW! KeepItReal Mar 2014 #27

It is interesting with voacabulary developed from reading exboyfil Mar 2014 #17

Actually, I support them on this.... Adrahil Mar 2014 #18

It sounds as if the problem is the method of test scoring... MrMickeysMom Mar 2014 #31

yeah, my wife's an English professor, so I understand the value of writing.... Adrahil Mar 2014 #32

Maybe it's like what voting should be... MrMickeysMom Mar 2014 #39

And then you go somewhere like Free Republic, JoeyT Mar 2014 #21

Free Republic = gibbering morons. raven mad Mar 2014 #23

This is true. When I hear parents complain that their children don't read question everything Mar 2014 #24

Amen to that. JoeyT Mar 2014 #38

I'd like to know how they determine what "fancy vocabulary" is. Jim__ Mar 2014 #6

Well, I hope they dropped "baldric". eppur_se_muova Mar 2014 #9

While they are at it, they ought to consider dropping or lengthening the time requirement LibDemAlways Mar 2014 #8

I always assumed the lack of time in the math section truebluegreen Mar 2014 #10

Expecting students to make intuitive leaps in math is not just unfair but enforces bias in testing. greatlaurel Mar 2014 #14

No doubt you are right truebluegreen Mar 2014 #19

And that's a bad thing. Le Taz Hot Mar 2014 #29

I guess one has to ask what is being tested. truebluegreen Mar 2014 #30

I understand. Le Taz Hot Mar 2014 #34

Writing? What's that? mahatmakanejeeves Mar 2014 #16

Please tell me I'm not the only one here ... surrealAmerican Mar 2014 #28

It's not just you. I've never seen that before and it's seriously funny shit!! n/t winter is coming Mar 2014 #42

I'm guessing they had to dumb it down for today's students. QuestForSense Mar 2014 #20

maybe instead of criticizing the change we should look at why our public schools are liberal_at_heart Mar 2014 #22

Perfer They Keep Essay Section erpowers Mar 2014 #25

Bad idea on the essay bluestateguy Mar 2014 #26

It is worth noting that most of the above posts suggesting young people can't write LeftyMom Mar 2014 #35

Ha! MissB Mar 2014 #36

I spent all of junior high English writing prompt-driven plug and chug five paragraph essays. LeftyMom Mar 2014 #37

"Weapons grade-BS!" Brigid Mar 2014 #40

Diane Ravitch has a good post about this greatlaurel Mar 2014 #41