Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | A | Academic Exchange Quarterly

Form versus content: classroom practices and essay requirements.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

I discuss the overemphasis of "structure" in college freshman composition courses. By structure I not only mean the specific form of the writing itself, but also the specific requirements of the class.

In graduate school I taught two sections of freshman composition. One afternoon as I sat in my office working my way through a stack of students' papers, in walked a fellow grad student and teacher.

She sighed. "I can't keep track of everything in the classes I teach. I called one of my students to see why she's missed so much class, and she told me ..."

I said, "You called one of your students to talk about her attendance?"

"Well, she's missed so many days now, I wanted to discuss what she could do to make it up. Absences are really hurting her grade."

"Unbelievable," I said. I took attendance the first few classes so the office would know how many students were showing up. After that, I was doing great just keeping track of my students' names and grades.

My colleague was offended. "Well," she said, "how much do you deduct for skipping class? What's your attendance policy?"

Attendance policy? I didn't have one. The students paid for the class; I did my best to teach them to write well; we wrote; we discussed; we learned; we read; but I didn't take attendance for a grade. I understood my colleague's compassionate intent, but I wasn't going to track down every student who missed class.

Is it wrong to see a writing teacher as a product provider? The majority of students are not English majors. They're there because they have to be. Is it wrong for students to expect something practical and useful? Students should be taught how to write well--that's a practical skill. Often, we teachers pretend that the policies and procedures we establish directly relate to the course objectives. But in reality, many requirements in writing classes do little to produce a student who can write well.

Granted, some institutions require teachers to report attendance. This is not really the issue. The problem is if the teachers assign significant grade value to attendance. Certainly, a poor writer isn't going to get any better if she skips class, but the penalty should be and will be seen in her writing. Adding an additional, arbitrary penalty for missing class, causes resentment in students who, despite our opinion, feel that it's their penny spent, so attending class is their option. Also, significant, distinct penalties for absences seem to ignore the purpose of a composition course. It's a writing course, after all, not an attendance course. Demanding that students attend class in order to earn a good grade will...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!