Reporter wrote:

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State Board of Education drops writing requirement

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This just goes to confirm my long held suspicion that education is too important to be entrusted to the professional educators.

As an instructor of developmental writing, I favor the state's decision to eliminate the narrative essay.  Most students can write a narrative.  The narrative is a good way to get students warmed up to writing, but they need a more challenging assignment. 

The writer of the HA editorial seems to be confusing the narrative and persuasive modes.  The narrative basically calls for the relating of a sequence of events. Students generally find organizing and developing a narrative much less difficult than writing an informative essay.