"Bland Elaborations" on my 1st Client Session

This session was a very different experience from last year's client experiences. I was with a tutor who was extremely authoritative. He wrote on my paper in pen and scrawled barely readable notations on his copy while I read. My assignment was a press release, so he made sure I knew it was relient on concise words and sentences. He never asked me what I needed to work on, so we barreled through the paper. He assumed I had made up the format of my press release. I understand he was trying to make my PR look better, but I was simply using the given form from my class. Format was less important than content, which I could have told him had he given me the chance. But he concentrated on things like my title, which he changed to whatever he wanted without consulting me first. There was no "Is this okay?" It was "This will sound better. Use it." By the way, I'm not changing it to what he wanted.

He used outside sources like Google to show me examples of press releases, again to make it more professional. I actually thought this was a good idea - bringing other sources into the session is always a good idea. I did not need this, although I'm sure it would have been helpful if I had. The tutor urged me to check AP (Associated Press) guidelines, which might have added another dimension to my simple press release, but I was not looking for that! It was my first draft; I can concentrate on making it flashy and professional after the content is fixed and organized correctly... That was the most pertinent issue at hand Also, he wrote "bland elaboration" on his copy of the paper without explaining further. How would he know that I am elaborating if he didn't even ask about the assignment and its requirements?

My professor said that it would be near impossible to keep the press release to two pages. My tutor wanted me to trim it to one page! He told me that press releases were always better on one page, and I know that journalism is consistently short and sweet. This advice would be a lot more valuable in other circumstances, though. He did not know what article I was taking the information for the press release from (it was 25 pages long!) and he did not know how much information that particular piece contained and how much I had to include. How can I be blandly elaborating?! He never explained the comment to me, just gave me the paper he had written on.

While he was throwing his opinions onto my paper I found myself enjoying his frankness and honesty. Or so I thought. Toward the end of the session, I realized I liked having this tutor because he did the thinking for me. He was too easy - the only corrections that needed to be made were his, and they weren't negotiable. To me, that is NOT what a tutor at the Writing Center is for. Although some people might feel gratified by this copious amount of writing knowledge, I am not one of them.

From writing this post, I realize I am irritated by this tutor who assumes and insists that he is right without getting any background information. This session made me realize how disastrously wrong they can go if you do not assess the client's needs correctly. At the same time, it actually alleviated my peer tutoring worries - I can tell that I will never be that abrasively authoritative. I would never treat a student like they are simply a passive student who had written a "bland" paper. It was like I had no input on the outcome of my own paper! He made it seem like my considerable amount of suggestions for the paper were not as important as his. And I am an easygoing person; authoritative people and I work fine together as long as I can have a little input on the important topics. Generally.