Examining high school language arts experiences, a study surveyed 2,687 randomly selected students from 18 colleges in 14 Midwestern states who had taken the American College Testing (ACT) tests in high school. Responses were received from 558 students (a 21% response rate), with a high ratio of generally academically superior and non-minority female students. Respondents answered a 29-item survey concerning 29 essential competencies considered crucial to the language arts programs in secondary schools (including the ability to organize writing for a specific purpose, and the ability to edit the writing of others). For each of the competencies, students were asked to rate their experiences in the three areas that applied to their high school language arts classes--standard (required) English, journalism courses, and other English electives (speech, drama, creative writing, etc.). Students also responded to an open-ended question asking for suggestions for high school language arts teachers. Results revealed that, when compared to students with no high school journalism experience, students who took at least one journalism course rated it as fulfilling the general language arts competencies better in 16 of the 29 competencies. When the competencies were collapsed into six categories, students rated journalism courses superior in four of them: writing, editing, gathering/use of sources, and affective domain. On the open-ended question, among the most-mentioned of college students' suggestions for high school language arts teachers were to: (1) teach basic writing skills; (2) develop and encourage various writing styles; and (3) assign more writing. (Four tables of data are included, and a survey cover letter, sample survey, and 20 footnotes are appended.) (MM)