Is A Writing Initiative Beneficial?

During my research on higher education writing literacy, I've discovered that some educational institutions have started specialized writing initiatives to improve student writing across disciplines.  Allocated from previously awarded grant funds, schools such as Passaic County Community College in New Jersey, have created a writing connections program.  Fairleigh Dickinson University, also in New Jersey, created a writing program guidebook and Metro Writing Studio that offers free tutoring for all phases of the writing process.

Additionally, the following link provides an excerpt to the book "Taking Initiative On Writing: A Guide for Instructional Leaders," by Gere, Dickinson, Orzulak, and Moody.  This guide provides a step-by-step process for 1) setting initial writing goals for your school, 2) implementing action steps, and 3) sustaining and improving a writing initiative.
https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Books/Sample/49959Intro_x.pdf

Open Question: Could an initiative of this nature be executed at your college/university (or high school)?  Would it beneficial to your school or institution?

How can we help?...

This post is directed for our undergraduate students.  No matter what discipline you are studying in school, whether it is Mathematics or Engineering, the importance of proper writing skills cannot be undervalued.  These skills are essential in retrieving employment after college, regardless if it's a full-time position or summer internship.  Professions are looking for job seekers to not just have effective communication and interpersonal skills, they want to hire someone who can also meet the writing requirements for the position.  These very writing skills can differentiate one candidate from another. 

Students:  The question again is how can we [educators] help you?  How would you like to see your institution address this matter so to help you during your matriculation?

Fellow educators, colleagues:  What procedures could be put in place to address this matter on college campuses?  Your input would be greatly appreciated as well.

Today's English 101

Check our this video about text language among our adolescents and young adult students.

The Ugly Truth

As a graduate teaching assistant, I have had the exciting opportunity of educating college freshman, plunging headfirst into the college teaching experience.  The challenge that I’ve noticed must, however, is the lack of proper writing etiquette college students possess.  Today, when we refer to writing literacy, it surpasses the traditional writing assignment completed on paper, but extends to typed documents, email messages, and even student Internet posts.

After brief interactions with my fellow peers, colleagues, and educators, this is sadly a typical list of the writing errors we’ve encountered:

• Run-on sentences and sentence fragments
• Missing punctuation, including periods, commas, and semicolons
• Lowercase “ i “ representing for capitalized “ I “
• Casual language (“We did a lot of fun activities like feeding the ducks and stuff.”)  
• Slang (e.g. “What’s good with you?”)
• Uncapitalized proper nouns such as september and bill gates
• Use of second person (“When you read this book, you will see…”)
• Lack of organization
• Use of numerals instead of words (“…15 years ago…”)
• Ebonics (e.g. “She is trippin…”)

Higher education sets the bar for enhanced writing skills over to be developed over the course of four years.  Professors are expecting their students to write concisely and consistently.

Discussion:  Do you feel as educators we should address these errors when seen?  What grade level should this correction begin?