QuickTake: Poor Writing Costs Taxpayers Millions
Direct cost of poor writing: $250,000,000 spent on remedial writing instruction.
Indirect cost of poor writing: not easily measurable, but undoubtedly quite high.
Hidden cost?
Another hidden cost is that good ideas may never see the light of day.
"I see that all the time in writing and political speaking," Huckabee said. "There are some really bright people who can't communicate and as a result their ideas probably aren't given the attention they deserve."
Magnitude of the problem:
While two-thirds of companies surveyed in the 2004 report said writing was an important responsibility for workers, 100 percent of the 49 states responding to the anonymous survey said it was. More than 75 percent said they take writing skills into account when hiring.
An economy functions more efficiently when its labor force can read well and write clearly. Encouraging students to develop their writing skills is something that any economics instructor can do.
More information will be found at this web site.
posted by Ronald M. Ayers at 10:46 AM
15 Comments:
I also believe writing is an important skill in obtaining future employment. But like everything else if you do not use it often. It becomes a perishable skill.
3:51 PM
I remember magic Kindergarten writing. You'd scribble on the paper, take it up to the teacher and tell her what you "wrote" so that she could write it for you. I never did that and I've often wondered if it is still considered sound practice. It may yet have a place, just getting children used to the process.
6:28 AM
I do think writing is an essential part a good employee. It's a form of communication.
8:37 AM
I have seen where it is important to be able to read and write exceptionally well for even a medial job. I however have gotten very lazy at trying to improve my spelling and writing skills because almost every computer has a spell check or sentence correction built in. I figure why waste electrons on that when I can use them for something else which is not a good attitude to have.
2:10 PM
I believe writing is essential for anything one does in life. Being able to communicate in writing is almost part of any job. I know being able to compose a letter is considered a skill now instead of the way things are.
3:47 PM
Imagine a world where everyone had the writing skills of some like David Sedaris,what a country! lol Writing is very important for obvious reasons,however we live in a society where dumbing down is a national pastime e.i. Jessica Simpson.
A basic form of communication should be taken seriously,right?
9:03 AM
Ok, but keep in mind one thing. Reading develops writing. Kids today don't read at all, how do you expect them to write well. I get comments like "Oh, sounds fun!!" (in a sarcastic tone mind you) whenever I tell people I am reading a book tonight instead of going out.
2:38 PM
Good, writing is important it helps on a lot of things other than just future employment. Like communication skills.
7:35 PM
I agree you need to have good writing skills to better your employment. You do not use it as much as you should and when you don't use it as much as you should then you forget how ti write well.
3:39 PM
It's true good writing will get you far. Just look at the writing scores on the TASP.. Not everyone passes it the first time. Is it true elementary school don't take the time anymore with their students when it comes to writing skills. I hear employers are paying attention to the handwriting and the grammar skills on the applications then the references and the back ground checks...hmm... oh well it is a skill we must have always.
6:54 PM
If the salaries of Liberal Arts instructors were to be raised then a better qualified labor force would be attracted to those professions. Unfortunately, Liberal arts majors are among the lowest paid professions according to the cnn poll posted in your resources area. However, that does not mean to say that they will all be discouraged from pursuing their dreams.
4:56 PM
And on another tip:
Writers have shaped Western thought on a consistent basis for hundreds of years, why stop now? Granted the internet has its upswings, but it also has it's downfalls, as in a proliferation of badly thought out ideas, lack of skills in communication that may (ultimately) help in the de-evolutive dumbing down syndrome.
5:03 PM
Many anthropologists today are studying the effects technology (e.g., the Internet) has on written language. What they've found is that less and less people are able to write clearly, and most cannot even write in script.
The Internet's growth in the past decade has been astounding, but many researchers agree that increased dependence on electronic writing encourages people to become lazy in their grammar and syntax (e.g., improper spelling, misuse of punctuation, sentence order confusion, etc.).
Hopefully colleges, universities, and business will address this problem in the future.
6:35 AM
I agree with Huckabee that some great ideas are not given the attention they deserve because they are not properly communicated. This is unfortunate.
Although written skills should be enforced in school classrooms, reading is just as important because then people imitate writing styles of what they read. Thus communicating effectively involves good reading habits.
I remember how much I disliked English because I didn't like writing essays. However, I noticed that my writing skills would improve when I analyzed literary works, especially essays from writers such as Pope, C.S. Lewis, Boethius and Mann, to name only a few. I learned that good writing involved analyzing the form or structure of a literary work as well as the content. This is sort of the opposite of diminishing marginal utility in that more utility is received the more one reads.
So classrooms need to provide a greater incentive for students to read and help them develop their written skills. Otherwise, we will be imitating Ms. Malaprop from Sheridan’s The Rivals.
7:17 AM
Reading and writing are the most important skills any person can have. How can you have an efficient economy if you have an illiterate labor force?
7:55 AM
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