Jeff Smith
I read Hairston’s essay first but I’m posting my blog on J. Smith’s first. I didn’t care for Hairston’s essay but I liked Smith’s because I felt like he took his time explaining his argument and also because his line of reasoning is very much based on students’ interests and goals. Asking myself, “What would best serve the students?” helps me feel more focused because I get caught up in what I want, or in not wanting to “hurt their feelings and scar them from feeling like they are good writers.” I agree that as instructors we have to remember where we sit in the larger scheme of the educational system and of student experiences. The reality is most students are just trying to get through this class, and they want to become better writers, but mostly they want to get through the class. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if we forget that then OUR feelings get hurt because we wonder, “Why don’t they care?” I liked his argument that if we are really about helping people develop as individuals then we need to remember why they are in school, what their goals are, and how they will be impacting society in the future. The one point I disagreed with him on is that instructors claim not to be gate keeping and wanting to keep the “bums in the seat” for economic reasons. Teachers don’t want to be gatekeepers because they don’t want to deny people opportunities. Of course you can’t deny somebody something they’re not working to get.
May 15, 2008 at 4:52 am
Well, a good many teachers want to “deny people opportunities.” They are the ones who feel no guilt over giving Cs, Ds, and Fs. As humanists, we tend to be a bit more humane, I suppose, but not always. Literature breeds a certain elitism. I am also thinking of Mina Shaugnessy’s “Diving In” article. She did not invent the “guarding the tower” type. It exists.