According to a report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Utah's fourth- and eighth-graders score below the national average in writing.
This is not good news for budding writers. Nor is it good news for budding shop owners, politicians, athletes and backhoe operators since language is a major part of their worlds, too.
In society, common language is like the hub of the wheel, a place where everyone comes together. In a perfect world, a dancer could dance out her ideas, a carpenter could hammer out his opinions and a doctor could use syringes to express his emotions. But in this less-than-perfect world, people must rely on words.
That is the vision that Utah's grade-schoolers need to see.
Being good at reading and writing will make them better at whatever they decide to be — from stock boy to stock car racer.
The NAEP test monitored a student's ability to write essays, pass along information and compose an argument. More than 5,000 Utah students from more than 200 schools participated. The upside is 80 percent of local fourth-graders and 77 percent of eighth-graders were found to have basic skills or better. The downside is the national numbers were 85 percent and 84 percent, respectively.
One reason for the low showing is that teachers here tend to have larger classes and lack the time to give students the personal feedback that writing demands. Nevertheless, the state is planning to increase its efforts to pinpoint struggling students and offer help. Teachers are being encouraged to stress, even more, the importance of writing skills in the future. Science teachers and others are also being asked to give more writing assignments.
Apart from simply shifting emphasis, it is important that teachers also find ways to inspire. For many students, writing is drudgery. They would rather clean blackboards. It is up to Utah's teachers to find ways to show students the practical applications of writing — by initiating correspondence with students in other nations or perhaps penning letters to public officials and celebrities and receiving replies. Writing must be shown to be practical, but, along with instruction, teachers must look for ways to inspire.
"Language is a solemn thing," wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes. "It grows out of life — out of its agonies and ecstasies, its wants and its weariness. Every language is a temple in which the soul of those who speak it is enshrined."
Utah students who capture such vision of the written word will be well on their way to success in any endeavor they pursue.