The eight-legged essay, said to have caused China's subsequent stagnation

When I was in high school, I had to pass a "functional writing test" in order to graduate. It was graded on objective criteria not entirely unlike this: thesis, topic sentences, supporting sentences, etc.

I nearly failed it, and apparently I'm far from the only one[1]. If you didn't follow the format, more like filling out a form than actual writing, then you didn't get the full points, no matter how well it was written by more subjective standards.

That wasn't the only problem, but it was certainly one. They ditched the test because a lot of people were failing it.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/01/23/m...