Sarah Rabkin, front, teaches a popular writing class called "Environmental Action Through Writing."

Students experience the power of the written word

UCSC faculty recently endorsed an enhancement of writing instruction on campus. A new graduation requirement will ensure that all students receive high-level instruction tailored to their field of study. Rabkin, who has taught writing at UCSC since 1985, believes writing is an essential life skill that prepares students "as citizens, members of a democracy, change agents, and human beings."

"Learning to write is learning to think," she said, adding that her class builds on the foundation students get through lower-division classes offered by the Writing Program. "By the time students get to my class, though, they are by no means finished learning to understand and develop arguments, how to communicate a position, how to support a position, and how to articulate what they think about an issue. Writing develops intellectual fluency."

Full text article by Jennifer McNulty (831) 459-2495; jmcnulty@ucsc.edu here