Inbox: Reading and Writing in All Subject Areas

The Ideas section for today’s Inbox focuses on Reading and Writing in All Subject Areas. As the piece explains, “President Bush’s proposal to focus solely on the quality of math, science, and technological education ignores the important critical thinking and literacy skills that take place in the English language arts and composition classrooms. By focusing on reading and writing in all subject areas, we can ensure that students are better prepared to improve the analytical, technical, and problem-solving skills that the President’s plan targets. These resources offer suggestions for working toward these goals.”

Naturally, students need to do better. They deserve better. But as it’s presented the American Competitiveness Initiative comes up short. To suggest that reading and writing aren’t just as important to a student’s success is shortsighted and foolish. Not only do we want students to be able to read those math, science, and engineering texts in thoughtful and analytical ways, but we want them to be able to compose their own work in relationship to the ideas that they develop in these content areas. The President’s plan comes up short. With a wife who is a librarian, you would think that his educational initiatives would more fully represent the full range of learning that students need for lifelong learning and achievement.