Eliminating grammar on WPE not so funny
Cal State Long Beach administrative geniuses
have done it again.
This time, they’ve decided the objective
section of the Writing Proficiency Exam is no longer to be part of the
test. Now, don’t get me wrong -- I am not merely objecting the elimination
of the section, but rather the reasoning behind its removal.
Debbie Lensner
If the test had been changed because administrators
wanted students to show their grammar and vocabulary skills in their essays,
I wouldn’t be complaining.
But for the chairman of the WPE Test Development
Committee to profess that "grammar has no bearings on one’s writing proficiency"?
Oh, please. Grammar has everything to do
with writing well.
I see how great a role grammar plays in
one's writing proficiency each day at work.
Part of my job entails typing resumes and
letters for customers. These are important documents for customers seeking
employment, requesting financial aid and soliciting business.
Unfortunately, most of these documents
are so poorly written that no recipient would ever take the sender seriously.
When verb tenses switch from past to present
and back throughout the letter, when subjects and verbs don’t agree the
sender does not appear to be a knowledgeable professional with whom the
recipient should do business.
I and my associates at the office laugh
at the error-riddled orders. Of course, we never do this in the customer’s
presence, and we usually clean up the writing.
A resume is often the only thing a prospective
employer has to go on when deciding whether an applicant is worth an interview.
If you get nothing but laughs after passing the new WPE and graduating
from CSULB, well, you know whom to blame.
Debbie Lensner is an English major at
Cal State Long Beach. |
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