This has to be one of the most fascinating articles I have read on Medium.

I was educated in South Africa in the 50s and 60s, and when I immigrated to the States in mid-50s decided to go to college. I was appalled to find that most people at college were semiliterate. In fact, a few years later, I read that a California study had found that 95% of students at 4 year colleges could not write a grammatical sentence.

Also, in discussion with a teacher who objected to standardized teaching, I eventually asked her if she could teach grammar. She said no, because she had never leart grammar. I then asked her what she wanted to teach. She wanted to teach 'the most important things in life.

I have studied in South Africa, in London, and in the States. standardized testing is the norm. The teacher isn't supposed to teach 'according to what is going to be asked.' The teacher is supposed to teach everything in the syllabus, and the student is supposed to know everything in the syllabus, so it doesn't matter what is in test. The student should know it.

So teachers should not be advised whether it is argumentative, informative, or narrative writing, the point is that all three should be taught, and the student should know them all.

I find your statement that people without learning difficulties should be given the same amount of time as people with leanring difficulties puzzling. Could you tell me why you think that? Surely someone with a learning difficulty will find 135 minutes just as difficult as someone without a learning difficulty will find 90 minutes.

That said, I find the level of skill asked of a Grade 6 to 8 student in narrative writing to be far more sophisticated than required during the years I was at school. We were taught the classical system of education in those days, and so the first seven years of school were more about how to learn to construct sentences, paragraphs, writing good sentences, understanding what was written, and writing short essays.

The last five years of school were spent writing different essays. Focus was on expressing oneself clearly because, in those days, it was not possible to enter university without understanding how a thesis was written. All answers in many other courses, ee.g. history, were in essay form. If one's language was not up to publishable standard, one couldn't enter university.

The bottom line is that by the time we left school, we were decent writers! We were, however, not creative writers. In my day, there was no such thing as courses for such a thing as creative writing.

Your point that narritive writing requires psychological maturity and emotional complexity is well taken. While I had the writing skills (and talent) early on, my lack of psychological maturity (I have Aspergers) hampered my writing, and I am stunned to see how early children in the States are required to have that kind of skill level.

You wrote an excellent and intersting assessment (and essay). It was a pleasure to read. Thank you.