The ability to write well is basic to most careers, yet this skill is in short supply. Consider this:
“. . . a 2006 study by a consortium of business-research organizations especially singled out writing skills as deficient among high-school and four-year college graduates. A leader from one of the organizations Susan R. Meisinger president and CEO of the Society for Human Resources Management said ‘The importance of learning to communicate in writing and orally is paramount. Communication is a critical skill in the workplace and one that many new entrants lack.’”
“The College Board’s 2004 study revealed that a majority of U.S. employers said that a third of workers fail to meet the writing requirements of their positions. ‘Writing skills are fundamental in business,’ a survey respondent in that report said, ‘It’s increasingly important to be able to convey content in a tight logical direct manner particularly in a fast-paced technological environment.’ ”
Things have not improved since 2004.
“In a 2011 survey of corporate recruiters by the Graduate Management Admission Council, the organization that administers the standardized test for business schools, 86 percent said strong communication skills were a priority—well ahead of the next skill.”
This is one reason why The Good Curriculum focuses on writing.
Students who complete all of the writing assignments from grade 4 to grade 12 writes over 800 weekly essays. They learn to write well and write fast.
Whatever curriculum you adopt, be sure that you assign weekly writing assignments early in the student’s career.
Tom Watson
The Good Curriculum is a comprehensive video-based, self-taught, self-paced, reading-intensive, writing-intensive, systematic online K-12 curriculum.