CSULB’s Writing Proficiency Exam: from Instrument of Mediocrity to Instrument of Excellence?
Can CSULB’s Writing Exam grow from Instrument of Mediocrity to Instrument of Excellence? Here’s how to start the rehabilitation of this boring requirement.
Tag: WPE
Thoughts (rants mostly) on CSULB’s Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement Placement Examination (GPE). Can you tell from the name alone that it’s mired in bureaucracy? Formerly known as the Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE).
Passionate arguments in support of nothing (I read the GPE (WPE) again today)
Bad data and presumptuous essay prompts conspire to make students write safe, conforming essays. A tiny step toward a more conforming life. What if the GPE exam were preceded by a creative brainstorming session? Would the essays be different?
Writing Essays for Grumpy old Men
When we ask students to write (the GPE / WPE or anything else) are we asking them to write what we want to read? Or are we truly inviting them to think new thoughts in their own time, for their generation, and in their century?
Is Critical Thinking Dead? (can Donald Trump pass the Turing Test?)
Do students think critically? Do they read? Can they write? A few thoughts from grading the GPE (formerly WPE) today.
The Writing Proficiency Exam is a Giant Milgram Experiment
Is a essay that does what the author was told to do good enough? Does great writing require radical thinking?