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From: skinner@cs.washington.edu (Shelley Marie Skinner)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.edu,misc.education
Subject: Re:writing & learning (was: Against educational fads...)
Message-ID: <14049@june.cs.washington.edu>
Date: 8 Dec 90 10:35:47 GMT
References: <15404@cs.utexas.edu> <cRFNT2w161w@nstar.UUCP> <15425@cs.utexas.edu>
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Organization: U of Washington, Computer Science, Seattle
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In-reply-to: turpin@cs.utexas.edu's message of 4 Dec 90 17:50:07 GMT


>...
> No, writing skills and word processing are NOT synonymous in
> 1990.  They will not be synonymous in 2000, nor in 2010.  In
> 2090, word processing may well be an obsolete practice.  But
> writing skills will still be vital to a person's education, just
> as they were in 1090, and 90.
> ...
> Of that, I have no doubt.  But it is frightening that a high
> school teacher would confound word processing with writing.
> Please, I beg of you, for the sake of our children, think long
> and hard about how our primary and secondary schools are failing,
> and where the corrective measures lie.  Typing and word
> processing classes are irrelevant. 

I totally agree that writing skills are, and will always be,
very important, both in school, and in every day life.
 By writing skills, I mean the ability to
think and write clearly about a subject. I recently read
 the book "Writing to Learn" by William Zinsser (1988);
In it, he discusses the importance of writing, how to write well,
and something called "writing across the curriculum."
I enjoyed reading it, and recommend it to anyone
who wants to learn more about writing, and how it is a
"powerful method of learning." I wish I had known in highschool
what I learned from the book.

...still trying to make up for what I should have learned...
 -Shelley