Is the sentence being butchered?

I just read this Washington Post article called "The Fate of The Sentence: Is the Writing On the Wall?" The article discusses how young people these days are poor writers and generally cannot form a sentence. My emotions were mixed when I finished the article. On one hand, the fact that only a third of eighth graders are proficient in writing is dismal. On the other hand, perhaps this is news that I should (secretly) delight in, since it looks like job security for writers out there already. Gosh, that was awful. I didn't mean that.

Writing workshops and clubs sound like such a great idea to me and I'd love to run one someday at a library. I'm trying to think of how it would be formatted. Would it be a casual, book club-like meeting? Would it be a themed writing workshop - like writing for employment, school, etc.? Perhaps it could be a combination. Something that concerns me about starting this kind of group is the different writing levels people start off at. Filling the gap between those that are fairly comfortable with writing and those that are novices would definitely effect the flow of the discussion.

The writing craft is fascinating; I read about regularly. Lately I've had the pleasure of having someone to talk with about writing, creation, imagination and the like. Some find the act of writing difficult. Others just let it rip effortlessly. In the end, I imagine every writer takes in their published work with pride.

A book that I recommend over and over and over again to all writers, fiction and non-fiction alike, is On Writing Well by William Zinsser, who is a writing bad ass.