Although not all of the data has been analyzed yet, students at the meeting received copies of the results to eight of the questions. Fifty-eight percent of those who responded believe that "instruction in writing at Amherst College needs to be improved." Also, as Subramanian explained, respondents have not noticed a significant change in their writing between entering college and now.
Natalie Potok '06 noted one possible cause for this lack of improvement. "Now they are comparing themselves to other college students. ... In comparison to your peers, [improvement] kind of evens out," she said.
Some students do believe that professors could do more to help them improve their writing. "Students are usually already good [writers] when they get here," said Alex Bloom '04. "They meet the relatively high expectations of the professors, but the professors don't help [students] improve from there."
Elena Roe '05 noted that most professors make little effort to improve students' writing. "I've only had two professors who made any significant effort to improve my writing," she said.
Students agreed that they go to the writing center to get something they are not getting from their professors.
Allison Rung '05 disagreed that professors are responsible for working with the students most in need of help to fix all of their problems. "I don't think a professor with a Ph.D. in history should have to teach grammar," said Rung.
Subramanian noted a more alarming response than lack of improvement. "The data's not on this sheet, but a chunk of people actually thought that their writing had declined" she said.
Gloria Monfrini '07 attributed this to lax demands. "Professors here actually have really low standards with regards to writing," she said. "They'll give you a good grade even if your writing style isn't good."
These issues clearly concern students: Eighty three percent of respondents rated the ability to write effectively as a very high priority.
"It is the College's job to make sure students can write, whether they want to or not," said Andre Perez '07.
The students at the meeting had a number of suggestions for improving writing instruction at the College. These included: more peer review, provided by teaching assistants; more rigorous comments on papers; a mandated first semester writing-intensive course for all students in addition to the first-year seminars, offering a summer course for writing help; making note of writing-intensive courses in the course catalogue and various ways of identifying students who need additional help.
Some students discussed the possibility of encouraging students identified by their professors as weak writers to take a writing intensive course during the second semester of their first year.
Students noted difficulties with all of the possible solutions, but affirmed that they believe writing ability is an essential skill that the College must continue to improve upon.
Students also agreed there are many ways of teaching students to write more effectively, and they should all be explored.