Revisiting freshman composition

Before the Fall of 1995, over 80% of the freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were able to place out of freshman communication. Responding to a general reduction in the quality of writing, speaking, and library research skills by undergraduates over the past two decades, the faculty senate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison passed guidelines making it much more difficult to place out of this course, these guidelines raised the percentage of students having to take the course from less than 20% to greater than 75%. In addition, the faculty senate established the following goals for this course: improvements in writing, reading, speaking, and listening skills; fostering of critical thinking; and practice in performing library research.