Why does it seem colleges and universities are paying so much attention to basic literacy skills these days? Shouldn't students already have these skills by the time they leave high school? Probably, but over the years these schools are finding they can't assume that their students have the proper skills in this area. Over the years these schools have been finding they have to offer courses in basic English to give students skills they should already have attained before arriving. In many cases these courses are mandatory because they have found so many students lacking in this area.
This isn't just universities becoming more demanding. Student writing skills are in decline and the numbers show it. According to advancedwriters.com "Annual reports from the National Center for Education Statistics show that the SAT mean scores in writing have dropped from 497 to 484 in 9 years (2006 – 2015)"1.
Why is this so important? After all not everyone that is going to college or university are going to study English or going into a language field? The fact is that it's important for everyone to communicate no matter what field they are in. Someone who's going into engineering or technology need to be able to convey their ideas in a way that others will understand, just as much as someone going into journalism or creative writing. It should not fall on these institutions of higher education whose job it is to prepare their students to work in these fields to have the additional burden of ensuring they have basic communication skills they should have learned before the arrived.
It has become normal for colleges and universities to test students when they arrive to see if they have the literacy skills they will need to cope with an education at that level. In some cases students who don't pass these tests have to take courses to bring them up to an acceptable level. Some schools have even found so many students lack these skills it's easier to make it mandatory for all of their students to have to take a basic English course no matter what field they plan to study.
If colleges and universities have to do this with students when they arrive though, why can't high schools make sure they have done their job by testing and requiring students to have these skills before they leave? By doing this students going on to college and university would be able to focus on the things they went there to learn instead of catching up with things they should have learned back in high school.
For this reason I believe that grade 12 University level English should be a requirement for entry into all university programs no matter what field they are going into. In fact even students who aren't going on to university could benefit. The ability to communicate, especially in writing, is one that everyone needs if they hope to participate in the work force.
1. https://www.advancedwriters.com/blog/the-decline-of-students-writing-skills-causes-and-outcomes/
http://www.elc-eastbourne.co.uk/blog/4-reasons-why-learning-english-is-so-important/
http://classroom.synonym.com/important-skills-12th-grade-english-2173.html
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