A Golden Era of Student Writing?

Among the biggest fears of writing instructors these days is that students will slip an "lol" or "u" or emoticon into their writing. In other words, they will momentarily forget their audience -- teacher, not Facebook friend.

In my experience, however, this doesn't happen. I've yet to read a paper as a journalism instructor that looks more like an extended text message than an article. Students can separate personal writing from professional assignments.

There are plenty of things to like about today's young writers. Technology hasn't ruined their ability to craft strong prose -- and in some cases platforms like Twitter and Facebook have helped teach them the importance of brevity.

Clive Thompson argues in a recent Wired piece that the age of illiteracy is not at hand. He notes that young people write far more than any generation before them. "That's because so much socializing takes place online, and it almost always involves text," he says.

Thompson quotes a Stanford University writing and rhetoric instructor who points out that students nowadays are adept at "assessing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across." They know when to be pithy and know when to write in a sober tone.

Thompson ends his column by saying that "What today's young people know is that knowing who you're writing for and why you're writing might be the most critical factor of all." This is a key lesson in media literacy, and Thompson's assessment of the young scribes is dead on.