# Doper Profs: Has the quality of students’ writing plummeted in the last 15 years?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-profs-has-the-quality-of-students-writing-plummeted-in-the-last-15-years/424117>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 26, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-profs-has-the-quality-of-students-writing-plummeted-in-the-last-15-years/424117 "2007-10-26T15:25:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-profs-has-the-quality-of-students-writing-plummeted-in-the-last-15-years/424117/101 "2007-10-31T07:35:47Z")

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I wonder how much of an impact computers had on essay writing. I don’t think anyone sat down at ye olde typewriter and banged out an essay. To type something up using a typewriter you have to do at least some minimal planning. Most likely you would have written out the essay at least once. That forces you to read the essay, and to see some of your mistakes. Not so with a computer. With a computer you can sit down and bang out an essay. Essentially writing until you meet the required length.

Personally, most of my essays for English class were done exactly that way. I bullshitted my way to the required length, looked it over quickly, then printed it out and turned it in. I’m sure that there were a few “its” and “it’s” mixed up, a few “they’re”, “their”, and “there” spelling errors, and I know there were a ton of punctuation mistakes. Frankly, I didn’t and still don’t really care. I hated writing essays, and the faster I got them done, the better.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-profs-has-the-quality-of-students-writing-plummeted-in-the-last-15-years/424117/102 "2007-10-31T20:35:54Z")

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[QUOTE=Scumpup]  
I said, and I meant it , that I wasn’t going to point out all his errors in the post I quoted. If you want to re-read it, look for sentences that begin with conjunctions for starters.  
[/QUOTE]  
Winston Churchill, _Liberalism and the Social Problem_:

> [@](#):
>
> Protection by itself has in no country annulled or seriously qualified unemployment. But the need to which it appeals is absolutely real; for the modern State it is a problem of the Sphinx, neither to be shirked nor wrongly answered. And the alternative remedy offered in these pages has already, as their author abundantly shows, succeeded even in the very partial forms in which it has been applied.

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**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-profs-has-the-quality-of-students-writing-plummeted-in-the-last-15-years/424117/103 "2007-11-01T18:34:53Z")

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[QUOTE=elfkin477]  
And second, draft after draft strikes me as a waste of time - how much do most people actually improve between drafts 2 and 3, or 3 and 4?  
[/QUOTE]  
Many students improve a lot between drafts. It depends on the feedback and the dedication of the student.

How many accomplished, professional writers write something once and then just turn it in without going over it or asking for someone else’s opinion? Writing is a recursive process, social in nature.

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