Wednesday, February 12, 1997
UCLA shouldn’t glorify Simpson
For years, I have considered it a mere curiosity that the
picture of a former USC athlete would be hanging prominently in the
John Wooden Center. However, I think the time has come to remove it
and replace it with a portrait of someone more deserving of the
honor … perhaps an ex-UCLA athlete who HASN’T been found liable
for two murders.
Ben Browdy
School of Public Health
Stress importance of writing ability
Regarding your article on Writing Programs (Feb. 6): Since
resources are getting scarce, isn’t it time to start screening out
students with poor writing skills and not admit them in the first
place?
It doesn’t make much sense to keep applicants out because of low
math scores and let others in who need to take remedial writing.
After all, fewer than half of our students will need math later on
in their majors or in life, but everyone needs to be able to write
well.
We keep hearing that we get so many applicants with grade-point
averages over 4.0 that we can’t take them all, and that it’s hard
to choose among them. Well, here’s a way: Make all applicants take
the Subject A exam in November or earlier and have the results sent
in as part of their package, along with SATs, GPAs and achievement
scores. As the system is now, we only find out that students can’t
write after they are admitted.
One beneficial result of this system would be to place a greater
importance on writing in the high schools, and I am sure that
tutoring groups will spring up all over the place, like the outfits
that coach for the SATs, to aid students to improve their writing
skills.
It’s time for UC to take the lead and show that we are serious
about the importance of writing.
Andy Kelly
Professor of English