Waaaah! Is that a baby crying? No, it’s just a SacramentoState student getting ready to take the Writing Proficiency Exam.The cries can be heard all over campus.

There is not now, nor will there ever be a shortage of whiningwhen it comes to the WPE.

Last year’s 40 percent failure rate and the test’s$25 fee chafe students like a soggy diaper. While these may belegitimate complaints, they ought to be examined more closely.

Sure, paying $25 to take a mandatory test seems outrageous, butwe have to remember that our essays don’t grade themselves.Proctors and qualified graders need to be hired to administer thetest and sort out failing papers from the passing. Like labor, testmaterials have never been free either.

With so many students failing the WPE an abundance of causeshave been offered for this phenomenon.

Graders blame poor grammar, mechanical errors and just plainunconvincing arguments. Students, on the other hand, have citedgrader incompetence, inept English professors, cultural bias andthe rigidity of the standardized format (to say nothing about thename calling).

Both groups have valid arguments but neither want to acceptresponsibility. If only we would listen to each other.

A friend of mine who recently graduated from Sac State recentlyasked me to provide a writing sample for her because she knew herown samples were entirely inept.

How she passed the WPE is unfathomable but her situationunderlies the point that many students, at least 40 percent, doindeed lack basic skills in grammar, mechanics and analysis.

Is this statistic a fluke? Are the graders actually incompetent?According to WPE Coordinator Jon Price, graders are predominatelycollege professors. Widespread idiocy doesn’t seem likely.Some then go further to say our English professors are inept.Whilethere is certainly some truth to this, the problem lies deeperstill.

The WPE requirement was created in 1977 by the California StateUniversity Board of Trustees in response to employer complaintsthat California’s college graduates simply could notwrite.

Much like the public school system from high school to primaryschool, the state universities were just pushing students throughas fast as possible with no regard to their capabilities. And itseems that they still are.

At every level, school officials are passing the buck, hopingthat someone down the line will teach us to write.

Instead of the endless bickering and speculation surrounding thefailure of the WPE requirement, Sac State could pass the buck back.Students aren’t passing because they never learned how towrite effectively in the first place. It is unfair to ask ourEnglish professors to fix years of neglect in the other Californiaschools.

The CSU Board of Trustees was right to enact this prerequisiteeven though it is merely a finger plugging the hole in a dam.However, the WPE, a test of elementary English skills, mightfunction better if implemented as a college entrance exam. Thisway, teachers in elementary and high schools will be heldaccountable to produce pupils with comprehensive English writingskills.

As an institution of higher learning, it is nothing less than ashame for professors to waste their time on building basicskills.

How is the student body supposed to receive a substantiveeducation if 40 percent aren’t even capable of adequatelyexplaining what they have learned?

Of course, some students, such as those for whom English is asecond language, would require special circumstances.

While we wait for some higher-up to reform the school system,Sac State English professors need to find a way to teach studentswhere others before them failed while at the same time upholdingthe rigors of higher learning. This means no pushing unfit studentsthrough and setting high academic standards.

As for us students, we need to come to grips with the fact thatwe’ve been let down by a failing educational system and workhard to bring ourselves to a skill level worthy of this university.Or just don’t let them see your tears while you’retaking the stupid WPE.

Should the school write off the WPE? Send comments [email protected]