Students’ disinterest in reading, writing increases
Brad Gruggisberg
The English language has evolved steadily throughout the centuries, from the old English style to the new, from Dickens to Palaniuk, from pen and paper to text messaging, but there seems to be one American English standard that has remained the same. It seems as if many students don’t like to read or write and deem it unimportant as a life skill.
These students have sat through their high school and college English classes year after year, listening to teachers they consider boring, watching the second hand on the clock slowly tick away the seconds, waiting to escape their class and move on to a subject they find more interesting.
Students fail to relate to required readings like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” or fail to understand what it is that William Shakespeare’s characters are trying to say.
Many high schools and colleges are beginning to grasp the concept that students are failing not only for poor grammar and syntax errors, but because of the student’s lack of interest in the subject matter.
Those failures are made clear in the poor performances by Arizona students in tests aimed to evaluate their competence in reading and writing.
According to the MCC office of research and planning, initial placement test scores for students entering MCC have been steadily declining since the fall semester of 2002.
Between the fall semester of 2002 and the spring semester of 2004, 40 percent of students fell below college level reading requirements, 41 percent fell below during the 2004-2005 school year, 43 percent 2005-2006 and 44 percent between the 2006-2007 school year.
The same pattern occurs with the writing placement test.
For the 2002-2003 school year, 37 percent fell below the college level writing standard, 38 percent fell below during 2003-2004, 39 percent during 2004-2005, results jumped to 43 percent of students falling below in 2005-2006 and 44 percent for 2006-2007.
The trend of inadequacy is, in part, the responsibility of Arizona high schools.
Christine Barela, an assistant principal at Desert Vista High School in Auwhatukee, is in charge of the senior class and drop out prevention.
Barela realizes the importance of keeping the students interested in their classes and their areas of study, and believes that the responsibility lies primarily in the lap of the teachers.
“It’s all about the teachers and we have great teachers. They love what they do, they are passionate and when you are passionate, it’s contagious,” Barela said.
Jeff Andelora, chair of the English department at MCC, explained that he also feels it is important for teachers to be enthusiastic in the classroom.
“We want to make sure that (our teachers) are really excited about teaching. One thing that we are constantly looking at is how well they will work with students.
“Do they have enthusiasm? Is this something they really love to do? Because that’s crucial once you’re in the classroom,” Andelora said.
The English department has a variety of non-traditional English-humanities courses to create and sustain student interest.
“One of our faculty members this semester is offering a course on zombie studies,” Andelora said.
“We’re trying to do things that are more cutting edge and innovative that would appeal to a wider variety of people.
