Why Composition is Taught by Graduate Students

Back in the late 1800's, the good ol' boys at Harvard decided that incoming freshman did not have the basic writing skills to cut it at Cambridge, and so they created the coursework that later became Freshman Composition. The idea of Composition as remediation persisted well into the 20th century, and the rise of open-enrollment universities in recent decades only cemented the notion that Composition is a way of offering poorly prepared students a chance to catch up on their skills so that they can participate in academia. In my opinion, there have been three results:

1. Many in academia blame high school teachers for failing to prepare students for college.
2. Many in academia believe Freshman Composition is a class that does not require an instructor with substantial teaching experience.
3. Many in academia believe that it's okay to staff Composition classrooms with inexperienced graduate students and poorly paid adjuncts.

Something to think about next time you open up your paycheck.