$50 To Make Things Write

Anecdotal evidence has long suggested that some Harvard students write rather poorly. The official line is that all students should be proficient writers after completing a course in Expository Writing, which has been required of all first years since 1872 and, at least in theory, molds each freshman into an essay-writing maestro. And yet professors, teaching fellows, and students all see examples of sub-par writing far too frequently. This begs the question of just how well Harvard does in teaching writing.

Enter interim President Derek C. Bok, who has decided to fund a comprehensive undergraduate writing study this spring. Bok’s project—which will hopefully provide much needed motivation for improvement in writing curricula across the University—is a worthwhile endeavor, and he should be commended for spearheading it.

Writing is a fundamental skill both in and after college. All Harvard degree-holders—not just English concentrators—should be able to express themselves logically and clearly. It is healthy for the College, then, to evaluate itself from time to time in order to ensure that writing is being taught effectively.

The study’s results will help educators to answer the important question of whether or not students’ writing actually improves during their time at Harvard. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors who sign up for the study online will receive $50 for writing a 90-minute essay and filling out a brief self-evaluation questionnaire. Each student’s writing sample will then be compared to his or her Expository Writing placement test—the one that all students take at the beginning of freshman year. This design will also allow the the test to illuminate exactly the areas of writing instruction in which Harvard lags behind, providing targeted improvements.

Bok and Harvard, however, should be wary that the test’s results may be skewed by its test group makeup. Students who enjoy writing will likely see this test as an easy and fun chance to make money, whereas students who do not enjoy writing or consider themselves “bad writers” may see 90 minutes of writing and the possible shame of poor performance as not worth the monetary incentive. Should the test results be overwhelmingly positive, more testing—perhaps involuntary—should follow.

For too long, the improvement of writing instruction at Harvard has received mere lip service. After the Harvard College Curricular Review, the Standing Committee on Writing and Speaking was created to keep an eye on the teaching of writing, but the administration, up until the present, seemed content to rest on Harvard’s laurels. We hope that Bok’s writing test will provide concrete evidence showing such people just how necessary change is both in the Expository Writing program and across the curriculum.