Astonishingly Dismal

Your Nov. 12 issue included two pieces on the condition of education in Tennessee. Joe Sullivan again demanded greater college attendance and Jesse Fox Mayshark expressed guarded optimism about improved reading [writing, actually—ed.] skills in Knox County. To date, however, Metro Pulse has not addressed the phenomenon that is painfully obvious to all UT instructors: Our incoming students are largely illiterate. Admitting more illiterate people to UT will not make Tennessee a better place, nor will it improve the lives of Tennesseans.

The level of the writing errors I encounter is astonishing. Fully half of my students do not know the proper usage of there/their/they're and your/you're. Two-thirds are unable to make proper plurals (they make them with apostrophes, or simply do not make them at all). Their command of vocabulary is so poor that they do not know the differences between basic words like "idea" and "ideal." They do not understand sentence structure, and frequently write sentences without subjects or even verbs. They are unable to use pronouns correctly; large numbers of them do not know the correct usage of "I" and "Me," and dozens of others say things like, "Her and I." They do not know how to maintain proper verb-tense within a sentence, nor to match singulars and plurals correctly. They have no concept of paragraph structure, and frequently write "paragraphs" two or more pages in length, filled with a potpourri of diverse and jumbled subjects.

Being relatively new to Tennessee, I am ignorant of the requirements of the local public school system. It strikes me, however, that the basic language skills I outline above were taught to me in the 5th and 6th grades. Huge percentages of our college students are unable to perform at this level.

My students' facility in reading is equally dismal. I have progressively "dumbed-down" and shortened my reading assignments over the last three years, to the point where I now assign an average of only 15-30 pages per week. Furthermore, I often help students by focusing discussion groups on the readings, carefully reviewing the assignments with them. Yet all evidence indicates that the majority just don't "get it."

What does it say about our institution that we graduate thousands of people who cannot read or write at a high school level? With the lowest per-capita book-ownership in the country and second-lowest per-capita funding for public education, the last thing Tennesseans need is another reason for people to assume they are ignorant and uneducated. Yet the state's premier public institution is satisfied with this level of work?

If Governor Sundquist were serious about improving the stature of UT, then he would grant us the money to hire more instructors and professors, so that we could use the resulting smaller class-sizes to focus on the remedial reading and writing skills that our students desperately need. He might also consider improving grade-school instruction in English so that students come to college better prepared. Instead, I have 100 students in a single course, the high schools seem unwilling or unable to teach English, and the governor continues to tighten the belt.

Sam A. Mustafa
Knoxville

Taking the 5th

I just wanted to say I loved the article on 5th Avenue ["4 Weeks at the 5th. Ave. Motel" by Joe Tarr, Vol. 8, No. 44]. I have always had a fixation with that building. Of course, my immediate family would never imagine staying a place such as that. But every time I drive by it I get a pretty good idea of what kind of life my grandfather had lived... going from the Greyhound bus station to the 5th Ave. Motel to the Mission very often. He lived and saw what many have lived and are living today at that building. So I just really appreciate you going that extra mile for the story...those are the kinda stories that really appeal to me.

Stephanie Touchstone
Knoxville