Is writing undervalued and neglected in schools?
published: Sunday | January 30, 2005 Gloria V. Burke, Contributor DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN teachers and parents concerning children’s academic performance are frequently based on how well or how poorly the children are reading. In situations where children read well, they are considered ‘bright’. This approach to children’s academic performance undermines the importance of speaking and writing as expressive language. Such scant regard for writing explains why when children demonstrate below average performance, in writing examinations such as the CXC (Caribbean Council Examinations), GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test) and the Grade Four Literacy Test, the universal comment is, “They are illiterate”, and the inability to read emphasised. The Minott Report (2004), in discussing the CXC results isolates difficulty in comprehension as a problem. This helps to support the claim that little attention is paid to writing as an essential aspect of literacy and demonstrates that when discussing examin
