Spell and swim
The Durham Herald-Sun weighs in today on the spelling and grammar test changes at the University of North Carolina’s journalism school, pointing out that the exam “has taken on the air of a grand old Tar Heel tradition, like the requirement that each student pass a swim test before graduating.”
The swim test, abolished in 2006, lasted 62 years before it was deemed outdated. The spelling and grammar test, by contrast, is being changed to a usage and grammar test because language and how it is employed remain at the core of the journalism curriculum.
UNC journalism professor Andy Bechtel tells the Daily Tar Heel that “I was disconcerted with the chatter on Facebook and Twitter that says we’re no longer valuing spelling at all. We still care about spelling, but we can teach it a different kind of way.”
* An editorial: “Altaring tradition”
* UNC j-school defends spelling and grammar test changes
* Danny Glover: Killing the test’s spelling portion sends the wrong message
* Earlier: All UNC students have to be able to swim 50 yards, stay afloat for five minutes
@romenesko And those of us who had to take both will never let the younger generation forget it.
— Mark Slagle (@MarkSlagle) April 5, 2012
Pretty sure Notre Dame still requires all students (which would include any future journalists, I suppose) to pass a swim test to graduate.