Riesman Says Co-education Is A Cause of Decline in Writing

The quality and quantity of student writing seem to have declined, David Riesman '31, Ford Professor of Social Sciences, told a crowd of about 50 in Science Center D yesterday.

Riesman's speech, titled "Thoughts on the Declining Quality of Student Writing," was the fourth of six talks sponsored by the Hilles Writing Center this year.

Co-education has led to a decline in students' writing skills, Riesman said, adding that tension is created when students are "being watched by and watching" members of the opposite sex.

Sex-segregation

Riesman said that the graduates of the best parochial high schools tend to write well and read thoughtfully. He attributed this in part to the separation of sexes in these schools, and also to the teaching of Latin which "increases one's knowledge of vocabulary and sensitizes one to syntax."

"I would love to see the end of co-education at some point in people's lives," he said during a question and answer session following the speech.

Another reason for the decline in writing quality is the "loss of occasions for writing," Riesman said, adding that because of the telegraph and the telephone people do not write letters often.

Riesman said that he often urges students to create opportunities for writing by writing letters and keeping diaries. "The only way to learn to write is to write and to write and to write again," he said.

Riesman said that a factor related to the decline of writing quality is the decline of reading skills. "Today our attention span seems shorter," he said.

College students often do not take pleasure in reading, because long reading lists "demand one night stands with a book instead of a slow seduction and love affair," he said.