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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We had great experience w APS re class size. However my  kid who transitioned from Arlington public to private found he was ahead in math and behind in reading/writing.

My sibling who is a college professor says it’s shocking how many kids at selective colleges can’t write these days. APS should up it’s game in that regard. [/quote]

I’m the attorney who posted
 about our interns at Georgetown law. I feel that it is imperative that colleges begin communicating this to schools. Schools need to know that even their brightest aren’t prepared for college.[/quote]

How are you hiring?  Are they submitting writing from the law school year?

Are you looking beyond Georgetown or just relying on the reputation of the school? These students aren’t the brightest if they can’t write, no matter what school they come from.  The smartest lawyers I know didn’t come out of the big-name schools-  that’s just an anecdote of course.
[/quote]

Then there also must be something wrong with Georgetown's legal writing program. [/quote]

PP here. The thing is, their writing samples are excellent. So clearly they have been edited well. The bigger issue I feel is that the interns I am thinking of seem to be under the impression that it is ok to turn a very rough draft in. Drafts still need to be well written. This isn’t a an email to a friend. I don’t want to completely bash Georgetown Law. As I explained in my previous post, the interns from Georgetown seem to be part of a pattern. I just picked on them because their school is quite reputable and we had three interns from them that had terrible writing skills. To be fair, we’ve had great interns from Georgetown as well. But in general, the quality of writing we are getting is becoming worse and worse.

I’ve seen this in my personal life as well. I’ve reviewed college application essays for my husband’s nephews and nieces. They are all super smart smart but their writing skills are terrible. They are all applying to med school, dental school, PA school etc. where writing doesn’t matter as much. But I feel that high school graduates should still be able to write a decent paper. I read a good article by Natalie Wexler and Judith Hochman. What they are saying makes a lot of sense. Kids need to be explicitly taught how to write starting at the sentence level. When I read it it’s like a lightbulb went off. This is the problem. Students no longer know how to construct complex sentences.

https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2017/hochman_wexler[/quote]

Yeah that sounds like a combo of can’t write, plus an overly causal attitude towards assignments.  This generation is way too casual.[/quote]

What is the solution though? Take a look at this other article by Natalie Wexler who I love. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliewexler/2023/01/04/to-improve-students-writing-teach-them-to-construct-sentences-and-outline-paragraphs/?sh=4307e8b37e70

She is saying that only 27% of 8th and 12th graders are proficient in writing as measured by national tests. That’s insane. This isn’t just an Arlington problem. It is a nationwide issue. [/quote]

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