Lowering our students to the Palin-esque and Bachman-esque levels

Many educators, including this blogger, are greatly concerned about the lack of writing skills of college students. As states cut back on education budgets this is one area that is being sacrificed to the "Debt Reduction and Corporate Giveaways" Gods.

The top quarter of our students might compete well in the globalized work world but the future for the rest does not look very rosy.

Illinois erases state's last writing exam - chicagotribune.com: "Illinois high school juniors no longer will be tested on writing skills during the state's standardized tests every spring, eliminating the last Illinois writing exam and shaving about $2.4 million amid budgetary shortfalls.

While students might welcome being spared the sweating over topic sentences and persuasive verbs, many educators worry the essential skill could get short shrift in Illinois classrooms as a result.

'Good teachers, good schools, good principals don't need a test,' said Barbara Kato, director of the Chicago Area Writing Project. 'But the problem is, without the test, the focus on writing as a whole ends up taking a back seat.'

Gov. Pat Quinn signed the belt-tightening move into law last week as part of the state's spending plan. The writing assessments for elementary and middle school students already had been dropped last year.

'We're trying to minimize the damage' of the cuts, state Schools Superintendent Christopher Koch said. 'Writing is one of the most expensive things to assess.'"