Exams and Illiteracy in the Social Media Age

"First (and I acknowledge that I bear some culpability here), in the AP [Advanced Placement] U.S. Government exam the constructed responses are called 'free response questions' and are graded by a rubric that is concerned primarily with content and, to a lesser degree, argument.

If a student hits the points on the rubric, he or she gets the points for that rubric. There is no consideration of grammar or rhetoric, nor is credit given or a score reduced based on the format of the answer. A student who takes time to construct a clear topic sentence and a proper conclusion gets no credit for those words. Thus, a teacher might prepare the student to answer those questions in a format that is not good writing by any standard. If, as a teacher, you want your students to do their best, you have to have them practice what is effectively bad writing — no introduction, no conclusion, just hit the points of the rubric and provide the necessary factual support. Some critical thinking may be involved, at least, but the approach works against development of the kinds of writing that would be expected in a true college-level course in government and politics."

--From Valerie Strauss, "A warning to college profs from a high school teacher," Washington Post; image from