No Cause for Celebration

On April 4 The New York Times reported: "About a third of the nation’s eighth-grade students, and roughly a quarter of its high school seniors, are proficient writers, according to nationwide test results released Thursday."

Before I had time to stop sighing over that depressing information, I read further:

Though some experts questioned whether the writing test, which requires students to compose only brief essays in a short time, was an accurate measure of their ability, officials of the government’s testing program said they were encouraged by the results.

“I am happy to report, paraphrasing Mark Twain, that the death of writing has been greatly exaggerated,” said Amanda P. Avallone, an eighth-grade English teacher who is vice chairwoman of the board that oversees the testing program, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card.

Are you kidding me? These are "encouraging" results? When three-quarters of graduating seniors can't write?

Unfortunately, I had no time to craft a letter to the Times editors myself. Thankfully, at least one other reader was equally peeved. His letter appeared in yesterday's paper.

--Prunella