Teaching writing - again. Finally!

JS Online: Rewriting education:

"The resurgence of interest in teaching kids how to write comes none too soon in the eyes of some education experts. They see the jobs of the future calling for more ability to put words together effectively, and they think American kids just aren't writing as well as they should."

And this is different than when? Why do we have this desire to ignore basic, common sense practices and go in search of some great, enlightened endeavor? When we do this, our society and our people are cheated. How many kids were put through school during the period prior to this "resurgence of interest in teaching kids how to write" and at what cost?