teacher rants (was "Nostalgia/ancestors"

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

A long and deeply probing post from sojourner.  A lot to chew over, but I just wanna 
shoehorn in a comment here in response to this passage:

>My aunt is a teacher (working on HER PhD) at a prominent Northeastern
>university.  I asked her, out of curiosity, to tell me about the writing
>skills of her students.  Almost across the board, she told me they were
>horrendous.  Not just "a few errors" or "strange development of themes" but
>awful, horrible mistakes.  I know that you (all) know this is not the
>exception, but the rule. 

I have been teaching writing for more years than I wanna recount,
( 'specially given this nostalgia thread.  Suffice it to say at 45 as of 1 July
 I feel like the old man and the koan).  It think that
 the *problem* with our atrocious student writers is made more
 atrocious itself precisely by this way of conceiving it--always in terms
 of *mistakes* if not * horrible* mistakes.  Our entire quantitatively-
obsessed educational sysytem constantly shoots down students
 as writers, at every  level, with this *mistakes* bugbear.

  It is dead wrong to evaluate writing in terms of *mistakes*.  
The assumption behind that is so prescriptiuve as to not need detailing, 
as though there were some Platonically pure mistake-free writing
that would therefore, and on those terms qualify as *good* writing.

There is no such thing as *writing*--there are only occasions of writing.

Handbooks of writing rules NEVER match the way real people use language.

Please tell your aunt that in my experience Grad Students are the 
worst tyrants at intimidating undergrads as writers,
 prob'ly cuz grad stoodints are themselves being put
 through a winnowing experience of great 
cruelty (I survived it--though maybe not with all of my
 F-A-C-U-L-T-I-E-S intact--so I can say it).

Students are rarely validated for the IDEAS they try, however painfully
and *incorrectly* to express, instead it's out with the old red
pen and circlin' ALL those d-----d subject-verb agreement errors and,
uh oh, look here child, you, young Thomas--you used *messhuginah* as
 an adjective in your *How I Spent My 17-Year Hiatus* essay.
Hmmph, it's clear no one will ever respect YOUR writing, and no Ivy
League university or Genius Foundation will ever be interested 
in what YOU have to say, no, there will be no internet
lists devoted to YOUR work in the future, saucy Mr. P. 
 I suggest you hone up real quick on your

JOB skills.


john m