I think we teach composition, because there is a definite need for incoming students to learn the skill of effective persuasive writing. I’ve worked with many high school students on essay writing, and the one trend that I’ve seen, is that these students generally perceive writing as an exercise in academia, not an exercise in communication. There are certainly many reasons for this, not the least of which is the movement of our culture from print to video. The problem, however, lies in the fact that once they exit academia and join the world at large, there is both a requirement and expectation for these adults to be able to communicate effectively by writing. Whereas in school, communication between peers was achieved verbally (hanging out, recess) and in close quarters, communication between peers in business often adopts a formal tone and occurs over long distances. It is my belief that a successful 106 course will both teach the ways of writing well and the importance of it as a skillset.
This is not a criticism of academic writing or academia. It’s just that academic writing is often a very formalized form of communication. But it is only one form of formal writing. The majority of our students will not become academics. It is unfair of us to expect them to conform to a certain kind of writing form, one that likely will not help them in their future careers. This is why I decided to change my syllabus for this semester. I wanted the focus of their learning to be on the necessity of writing, and not on the instruction of academic form.
2 comments:
I am totally with you that academic writing is ultimately a form of communication. Any form of communication assumes that there is something to be communicated to the addressee (or recepient or the the other party). And this is exactly where the biggest problem lies. The problem is that there should be a content to what you are communicating. My experience with American students is that their world of ideas is not very rich and always have the same thought contents and folow the patterns that the popular/consumer culture dictates.
Making students abler communicators will not solve the problem as long as they do not enhance their thoughts by reading more and more. In a similar way, critical thinking is not a producable result that comes after a set of instructions at the end of which students become critical thinkers (though I do not belittle the importance of such instructions). critical thinking is a result of a long reading process on a given subject and being informed about all the possible viewpoints on that subject.
In brief, my issue is basically the superficiality of communication. Even if students know the mechanics and effective style in writing, the level of their thinking might still not escape shallowness. And reading extensively is the only way to overcome this general problem. Reading always precedes writing.
In this we are in full agreement, Cem. The logical question after this seems to be why don't students read?
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