Professor responds to WPST opinion piece
By: Dr. William Foreman
Issue date: 12/9/09 Section: Opinion
December 8, 2009
In the December 2 edition of the Signal, Shannon Krien argues that the WPST is so easy to pass that it should not be required. She writes that anyone who cannot pass such a test "probably should not be at a university." She also writes (inaccurately) that someone who fails the WPST twice can still take a WP course.
Three corrections: 1) The WPST and WP course requirement is CSU, Stanislaus's version of a systemwide requirement for all Cal State campuses. Every Cal State must have a Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement; it is not optional. 2) The cost of the WPST only covers the actual cost of administering the test. Thee are no "stealing of money." (By the way, the fee is only $25, $50 for same - day registrants; I don't know how you managed to pay $30.) 3) Students who fail the WPST twice can take a class that prepares them for essay -writing under timed conditions; they can take the test in their classroom rather than in the regular testing room, but they still earn a passing score on their exam (from the same graders) along with everyone else.
Now a counter argument: On one level, I want to support Ms. Krein because she believes that writing requirements at the university should be higher. I agree. But while the WPST has been a source of some controversy on our campus, few outside disciplines like
English and communication studies have argued that it is not hard enough. Most students, faculty, and administrators who question the WPST believe it is too hard because it prevents some students from continuing their studies beyond the WP course in their major.
But the writer goes wrong in applying a sort of chauvinism to writing on our campus. She studies communication, a major that requires excellent writing skills at every level, where writing is a key component of nearly every course, and whose conventions for good writing are widely understood. Most students do not major in communication-or English or philosophy or history or any of the many disciplines where extended prose if the primary means of communicating one's knowledge. Other disciplines rely heavily on math and their verbal communication is highly structured. Pretending that every college student is challenged in the same ways as those in communication misunderstands many other disciplines. I wonder how many communication or English or other such majors could perform the kinds of calculations required of a sophomore in science- or a math-oriented field. Rather than complain that she's asked to make and pay for such an easy performance, perhaps the writer should be thankful that calculus-a staple in so many academic disciplines-is no tested in this way.
The WPST must serve the needs of every major on this campus. It is graded by the very people who teach lower-division writing courses and the WP courses. So long as CSU, Stanislaus remains an "access university," where many students are given opportunities to gain college educations, screening devices like the WPST are necessary because we do not decide ahead of time who will succeed. At the Cal State, we admit many students (even some imperfect writers) and let them prove themselves once they arrive. The WPST is part of that process.
William J. Foreman
Associate Professor of English
Former member of the University Writing Committee,
and frequent grader of the WPST
In the December 2 edition of the Signal, Shannon Krien argues that the WPST is so easy to pass that it should not be required. She writes that anyone who cannot pass such a test "probably should not be at a university." She also writes (inaccurately) that someone who fails the WPST twice can still take a WP course.
Three corrections: 1) The WPST and WP course requirement is CSU, Stanislaus's version of a systemwide requirement for all Cal State campuses. Every Cal State must have a Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement; it is not optional. 2) The cost of the WPST only covers the actual cost of administering the test. Thee are no "stealing of money." (By the way, the fee is only $25, $50 for same - day registrants; I don't know how you managed to pay $30.) 3) Students who fail the WPST twice can take a class that prepares them for essay -writing under timed conditions; they can take the test in their classroom rather than in the regular testing room, but they still earn a passing score on their exam (from the same graders) along with everyone else.
Now a counter argument: On one level, I want to support Ms. Krein because she believes that writing requirements at the university should be higher. I agree. But while the WPST has been a source of some controversy on our campus, few outside disciplines like
English and communication studies have argued that it is not hard enough. Most students, faculty, and administrators who question the WPST believe it is too hard because it prevents some students from continuing their studies beyond the WP course in their major.
But the writer goes wrong in applying a sort of chauvinism to writing on our campus. She studies communication, a major that requires excellent writing skills at every level, where writing is a key component of nearly every course, and whose conventions for good writing are widely understood. Most students do not major in communication-or English or philosophy or history or any of the many disciplines where extended prose if the primary means of communicating one's knowledge. Other disciplines rely heavily on math and their verbal communication is highly structured. Pretending that every college student is challenged in the same ways as those in communication misunderstands many other disciplines. I wonder how many communication or English or other such majors could perform the kinds of calculations required of a sophomore in science- or a math-oriented field. Rather than complain that she's asked to make and pay for such an easy performance, perhaps the writer should be thankful that calculus-a staple in so many academic disciplines-is no tested in this way.
The WPST must serve the needs of every major on this campus. It is graded by the very people who teach lower-division writing courses and the WP courses. So long as CSU, Stanislaus remains an "access university," where many students are given opportunities to gain college educations, screening devices like the WPST are necessary because we do not decide ahead of time who will succeed. At the Cal State, we admit many students (even some imperfect writers) and let them prove themselves once they arrive. The WPST is part of that process.
William J. Foreman
Associate Professor of English
Former member of the University Writing Committee,
and frequent grader of the WPST
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