A news show on yesterday had a panel discussing the fact that some scholarships are doing away with the essay, and replacing it with a tweet contest. So, basically, they judge the best tweet, and the person who wrote it gets the $40K for college. So the whole panel was saying this is a really bad idea, because of this and that; and while they usually disagree on most stuff, they were all in agreement here.
Mostly their arguments centered on the fact that these kids should know how to write an essay, and that simply writing a tweet is not sufficient proof that they’re proficient-enough writers to warrant that scholarship. But seriously, if they’re already proficient writers, then what do they need to go to college for: drinking? I’m kidding, of course, since there’s also lots of sex and drugs at college. And I guess you could study other stuff if they made you. But can’t you just look up all that stuff on the internet anyway? (That’s what I do, since all the stuff I learned in college is out-of-date by now.) What do you need college for if you’re already accomplished, except for the partying angle?
But seriously, folks, there is a reason why they’re doing this tweet thing in place of the essays, and it has nothing to do with the kids’ writing abilities! You see, a tweet is only 140 characters or less, so there’s a lot less to read than in an essay. And can you imagine what it’s like to be one of those scholarship judges who has to read all of that crap? They just don’t want to have to read all of that drivel! Neither would I, and for all of their bitching and moaning about it, after just a few of these “essays”, I’ll bet that whole news panel would be begging for tweet applications instead, regardless of the consequences to our nation’s future literacy.
