EDUCATION . . . TEACHERS SAY KIDS WRITING POORLY

The teaching of writing skillsin the U.S. is so bad that an entire generation of children may not be able to write coherently as adults, the American Federation of Teachers warned today. A new AFT study, the "Writing Report Card," found that 78 percent of teachers say parents and other adults in the household must help children develop their writing skills. "Many students at each grade level continue to have serious difficulty in producing effective informative or persuasive writing," the report says. Among the suggested retro-remedies: encourage kids to write letters instead of making phone calls, and have them write down messages in lieu of voice mail.Post your opinion on theSocietybulletin board.