Let’s start in reverse… writing leads to career success.

Through running The Learning Consultants and through our growing career counseling practice, I have reviewed several hundred cover letters and e-mail inquiries, and countless requests for one thing or another.

Overwhelmingly, a person’s success in getting an interview, a meeting, or free advice was based upon their ability to effectively communicate through writing.

Writing leads to college success.

Writing ability is the number one skill that determines success in essay-based college classes. Since many college classes are based primarily on written tests and papers, writing ability is highly correlative with college grades.

I teach Constitutional Law, among other college classes to students in our Connecticut state college system. Years ago, I noticed that those with good writing ability had a distinct advantage. I realized that some of my students understood the concepts well but could not articulate their full understanding. The converse held true as well. Some students appeared to understand Constitutional Law concepts better than they did due to their eloquent writing.

Writing leads to high school success.

In high school, I see the same pattern in upper-level English and history classes. Numerous students who had excellent grades in English and history through 9th grade started noticing a decline sometime during their sophomore, junior and senior years. These were students who were hard-working, had excellent study skills, and paid attention in class. But they simply couldn’t write well enough on essay-based exams to earn top grades.

Given the standard five-course high school schedule (English, history, math, science and language), writing ability is the key to at least 40% of high school classes. That fact should ignite your high school child’s motivation to develop their writing skills. Moreover, the correlation between writing ability and college and career success might be what inspires you to help make your children better writers.