Friday, April 11, 2008
Shorter than most...
...mostly because I can't find much to say. Right now. We'll see how this fills out by the time this post is through. Anyway, I figured I would use this space to recount this week's experiences and/or general thoughts. Of course, if anything hits me while I'm writing, you'll be sure to hear about it.
But yeah. Do any of you sometimes get the feeling that the universe/public discourse/voices in your head try to tell you things? I'll sidestep the forthcoming barbs thusly: I'm on my medication right now, so we're all... I'M alright. All I have to worry about right now is oily discharge.
More on-topic: our in-class conversation yesterday about levying more troops into the Writing Corps got me thinking about student involvement (this is the operative word here) in university programs. The sense of "involvement" I'd like to work with here is complicated, involving a sense of accomplishment through the Writing Center, academic, and professional channels coupled with a kind of emotional investment in one's work that, when the two are combined, result in a far happier and more productive student. The true sense of being involved in one's work comes from doing what one loves and what one believes is useful to the surrounding environment (and personal wealth, that cackling demon, enters in here somewhere as well, if I'm being truly honest, ha ha). Of course, everyone knows the maxim "do what you love", but maybe it's in the pursuit of the end of that journey that people stumble along the path and forget where one was going in the first place. The actions and thinking of being "involved" must take place in the present time, of course; one must be happy and involved WHILE working towards a better future. In a perfect world, there would be no need or feeling of "suffering" through grad or undergrad to get to some promised land of professorship and tenured tranquility.
"Involvement", for me, then, consists of not simply "being involved" in the passive sense (being-there, doing-that, and just barely staying-awake), but rather a most-active sense of being invested in one's education and development as a member of the academic sphere. This includes the undergrad, but I have a feeling that many of us at this point in time have forgotten what it is to be a member of this university as an active subject and one who remembers why, exactly, we are still here.
There is a general malaise this time of year. For seniors, it is of course rightly deserved, but the unrest stirring in the hearts of students seeps through and sweats out the skin, evaporates into the air, and mists into the eyes and ears and throats and minds of others. The fact that we're "almost done" and that we "just want to get out of here" is too on-hand to ignore. It is a mad dash for the finish. For summer, yes, for us all; for seniors, a degree and most likely a job (or in the case of myself next year, grad school).
The fact of the matter is this: the quest for "education" has become commodified; the diploma, the Associate's, the Bachelor's and higher have all become end products meant to be purchased. Yes, they are earned through our hard labor, but this is because we as students by the time we finish our 4-or-so years of education at a Public Ivy university, perhaps, would like to think that we have learned something. But the truth is that we are thought of as Student Credit Hours, and processed, not taught.
Right after ENG 391, I have a class on the modern novel which I adore. I had a presentation to make that day, but our discussion for the day was halted, and instead the class entered into issues concerning the rather poor state of the English department at MSU which took the entirety of the class period. I could see that I wasn't alone in my sentiments; almost all of the class seemed to share the belief that the university seems to think of us as less than human. We are "products", yes; boomerang-type vessels meant to go out into the world and send back endowment money once we have achieved some level of success. But also, we are "consumers", and at this stage before we become truly "useful" to the university (other than tuition, of course), we must be dehumanized and stripped of all familiarity before we have earned our keep. Literally, it's an investment model coupled with pure capitalist greed that has gone overboard and allowed this university to increase class sizes, heighten tuition, and even target students as enemies of the public (East Lansing's rhetoric against us students was a cause of Cedar Fest, I believe, not a resulting from it; although correlation does not equal causation).
Also, I could blame the Bush Administration. For Everything. Everything that has gone Wrong. Including the previous eight years of cutting funding to the National Endowment for the Arts, etc. I could and I will. I often do. Just not now. I think it's pretty obvious that the ultimate top-down crunch has come down on our deans and provosts, and while I should not heap all the blame on those who are fighting to keep this university alive, I am still allowed, as a student at this University, as a member of the academic community, and as a fellow human being the right to get pissed off when my and our education suffers.
And I believe we all know this. I believe we all feel this. I believe this is why we're so tired of this school, of this state, of this nation. We aren't people anymore. Heaven/Hell knows if we ever were. This is the source of the malaise, of the doubt, and of the resigned state that we students feel everyday. But we are not blameless. We do nothing to fight it. We do nothing to make sure our voices are heard. How many posters and fliers are up for concert tickets, books, tutors, distractions rather than for the important things? Where's our student government in all this? Our representatives? Why are we not invited to planning the cirriculum, to discussing things that for all intents and purposes affect us more than anybody else at this university? We are not being informed, yes, but we are not informing ourselves. We are not, in a sense of the word, "involved". We just want to get out. Those who come after us will pay the price as a result. Hell, perhaps it won't even take that long.
I could go on, and given the time and energy I probably would; and hence, this will probably see the light of day again as one of my final pieces. But for now, I will belay the incendiary call for action on the part of students. Only so much can change at a time. Perhaps getting students excited about writing is the first part? Maybe sparked by a CRG about a Jesuit model of recruitment where students can get excited about talking to one another about writing. Then we shall take to the streets. I have a feeling I've missed a few middle steps.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way; who knew "Garfield" was so much better without the namesake cat? A few gems:
Imagine Jon Arbuckle a schizophrenic and all is fine.
But yeah. Do any of you sometimes get the feeling that the universe/public discourse/voices in your head try to tell you things? I'll sidestep the forthcoming barbs thusly: I'm on my medication right now, so we're all... I'M alright. All I have to worry about right now is oily discharge.
More on-topic: our in-class conversation yesterday about levying more troops into the Writing Corps got me thinking about student involvement (this is the operative word here) in university programs. The sense of "involvement" I'd like to work with here is complicated, involving a sense of accomplishment through the Writing Center, academic, and professional channels coupled with a kind of emotional investment in one's work that, when the two are combined, result in a far happier and more productive student. The true sense of being involved in one's work comes from doing what one loves and what one believes is useful to the surrounding environment (and personal wealth, that cackling demon, enters in here somewhere as well, if I'm being truly honest, ha ha). Of course, everyone knows the maxim "do what you love", but maybe it's in the pursuit of the end of that journey that people stumble along the path and forget where one was going in the first place. The actions and thinking of being "involved" must take place in the present time, of course; one must be happy and involved WHILE working towards a better future. In a perfect world, there would be no need or feeling of "suffering" through grad or undergrad to get to some promised land of professorship and tenured tranquility.
"Involvement", for me, then, consists of not simply "being involved" in the passive sense (being-there, doing-that, and just barely staying-awake), but rather a most-active sense of being invested in one's education and development as a member of the academic sphere. This includes the undergrad, but I have a feeling that many of us at this point in time have forgotten what it is to be a member of this university as an active subject and one who remembers why, exactly, we are still here.
There is a general malaise this time of year. For seniors, it is of course rightly deserved, but the unrest stirring in the hearts of students seeps through and sweats out the skin, evaporates into the air, and mists into the eyes and ears and throats and minds of others. The fact that we're "almost done" and that we "just want to get out of here" is too on-hand to ignore. It is a mad dash for the finish. For summer, yes, for us all; for seniors, a degree and most likely a job (or in the case of myself next year, grad school).
The fact of the matter is this: the quest for "education" has become commodified; the diploma, the Associate's, the Bachelor's and higher have all become end products meant to be purchased. Yes, they are earned through our hard labor, but this is because we as students by the time we finish our 4-or-so years of education at a Public Ivy university, perhaps, would like to think that we have learned something. But the truth is that we are thought of as Student Credit Hours, and processed, not taught.
Right after ENG 391, I have a class on the modern novel which I adore. I had a presentation to make that day, but our discussion for the day was halted, and instead the class entered into issues concerning the rather poor state of the English department at MSU which took the entirety of the class period. I could see that I wasn't alone in my sentiments; almost all of the class seemed to share the belief that the university seems to think of us as less than human. We are "products", yes; boomerang-type vessels meant to go out into the world and send back endowment money once we have achieved some level of success. But also, we are "consumers", and at this stage before we become truly "useful" to the university (other than tuition, of course), we must be dehumanized and stripped of all familiarity before we have earned our keep. Literally, it's an investment model coupled with pure capitalist greed that has gone overboard and allowed this university to increase class sizes, heighten tuition, and even target students as enemies of the public (East Lansing's rhetoric against us students was a cause of Cedar Fest, I believe, not a resulting from it; although correlation does not equal causation).
Also, I could blame the Bush Administration. For Everything. Everything that has gone Wrong. Including the previous eight years of cutting funding to the National Endowment for the Arts, etc. I could and I will. I often do. Just not now. I think it's pretty obvious that the ultimate top-down crunch has come down on our deans and provosts, and while I should not heap all the blame on those who are fighting to keep this university alive, I am still allowed, as a student at this University, as a member of the academic community, and as a fellow human being the right to get pissed off when my and our education suffers.
And I believe we all know this. I believe we all feel this. I believe this is why we're so tired of this school, of this state, of this nation. We aren't people anymore. Heaven/Hell knows if we ever were. This is the source of the malaise, of the doubt, and of the resigned state that we students feel everyday. But we are not blameless. We do nothing to fight it. We do nothing to make sure our voices are heard. How many posters and fliers are up for concert tickets, books, tutors, distractions rather than for the important things? Where's our student government in all this? Our representatives? Why are we not invited to planning the cirriculum, to discussing things that for all intents and purposes affect us more than anybody else at this university? We are not being informed, yes, but we are not informing ourselves. We are not, in a sense of the word, "involved". We just want to get out. Those who come after us will pay the price as a result. Hell, perhaps it won't even take that long.
I could go on, and given the time and energy I probably would; and hence, this will probably see the light of day again as one of my final pieces. But for now, I will belay the incendiary call for action on the part of students. Only so much can change at a time. Perhaps getting students excited about writing is the first part? Maybe sparked by a CRG about a Jesuit model of recruitment where students can get excited about talking to one another about writing. Then we shall take to the streets. I have a feeling I've missed a few middle steps.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way; who knew "Garfield" was so much better without the namesake cat? A few gems:
Imagine Jon Arbuckle a schizophrenic and all is fine.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Writing Center in the context of daily life
I often find myself getting overzealous about tutoring writing. every time a friend lets me know they have a paper due, i am dying to ask them to come in. i refrain because we certainly have plenty of clients and i'm always afraid they will read into it as having the underlying assumption of "I'm a better writer than you". my boyfriend has had to deal with this urge to help everyone the most. he showed me his exam from his pls class, frustrated because he missed a 3.5 by 1 point. i looked it over and noticed that he has lost 5 points on the essay section. i read through his essay and noticed that it was extremely disorganized and he had lost points not because he didn't know the information, but because he had forgotten to address parts of the question. i quickly launched into a whole lecture about how he should've made an outline before writing his answer in essay form and how he should have began the essay with so and so and how he should have ended with so and so. he was annoyed to say the least. he could have gotten full credit on the next exam on the essay section, if he had listened. but he didn't; he didn't get full credit either. the whole situation was so frustrating because he was directly refusing my help, despite the fact that he knew i was right. showing him my exam, on which my essay almost word-for-word matched my professor's example that he gave us after the test to show us what he wanted, and on which i recieved extra credit because it brilliantly answered the question (i'm just kidding =]), didn't help very much. i think the biggest problem is that he is the most annoyingly obstinate person i've ever met, on top of the fact that i was trying to force my help on him, rather than kindly offering and waiting for him to accept. i would never approach a writing center conference this way, so i don't know why i try to with him. i am well aware of the fact that clients have the absolute right to argue and refuse to take our suggestions and i have no problem with that. with my boyfriend, he finally vocalized to me today that he was taking my suggestions as an assumption that he didn't know how to write and that he couldn't get good grades on his papers. he has a paper due, quite soon (arg), for that same pls class. i am very familiar with the US congress, i love politics, my major is political theory and constitutional democracy, and i know the writing process- and the questions to ask to guide people through the writing process efficiently. i keep asking him if hes started it, picked a topic, thought at all about it- he keeps saying no, and that he doesn't want my help. i just wish i could make him realize that i can help him brainstorm, start his writing, even pick a topic! i never told him that he couldn't write- i never even knew that he was taking my suggestions that way.
i just wish that i could help him start without being a nagging girlfriend or an annoying writing center tutor outside of the center. i love talking to other writing center tutors about everything i write now because even the presence of another set of eyes is incredibly useful. other people see things differently, and that is invaluable when communicating through writing because there is an absence of tone and facial expression that may help express meaning in speech. i don't think i'm a bad writer who needs "help" because i lack ability, i just value the power of someone else's perceptions. the paper is stressing him out because he can't get started- my exact problem almost every time i get a writing assignment. through working at the writing center, i've learned techniques to do that- to just get started. how can i help him do that without making him think that i think he can't write?? i guess i've taken for granted the fact that the clients who come into the center are there because they trust us, and because they want to be better writers. i don't have a problem with him not being the best writer he could be, i have a problem with the fact that he is ok with not being the best writer he could be. he accepts mediocrity quite often in the academic setting, he just doesn't care enough to try harder. is this the writing center tutor in me getting frustrated with this attitude or is it just a fundamental difference in our approach to school and to life?
i just wish that i could help him start without being a nagging girlfriend or an annoying writing center tutor outside of the center. i love talking to other writing center tutors about everything i write now because even the presence of another set of eyes is incredibly useful. other people see things differently, and that is invaluable when communicating through writing because there is an absence of tone and facial expression that may help express meaning in speech. i don't think i'm a bad writer who needs "help" because i lack ability, i just value the power of someone else's perceptions. the paper is stressing him out because he can't get started- my exact problem almost every time i get a writing assignment. through working at the writing center, i've learned techniques to do that- to just get started. how can i help him do that without making him think that i think he can't write?? i guess i've taken for granted the fact that the clients who come into the center are there because they trust us, and because they want to be better writers. i don't have a problem with him not being the best writer he could be, i have a problem with the fact that he is ok with not being the best writer he could be. he accepts mediocrity quite often in the academic setting, he just doesn't care enough to try harder. is this the writing center tutor in me getting frustrated with this attitude or is it just a fundamental difference in our approach to school and to life?
Handbooks
So Krish Kassidy and I were all in the center a couple weeks ago and someone asked a question about MLA citations. we were arguing about the correct way to answer the question (mostly because none of us knew for sure) and we couldn't ask Stephanie because she was in a meeting. After a while, Kassidy became a genius and looked in the handbook and figured out the answer from that (I was right- HA Krish =]). But anyways, it just made me realize how easy it is to figure out any answer by looking it up. we have computers with the internet, other people who know that formatting style better, and handbooks at our disposal- and I've never used them before that argument. It got me thinking to say the least. Now, i look everything up even if i'm almost certain i'm right....ok not everything, but anything i'm not 100% about. It's not that i am questioning my knowledge of grammar rules, it's just verification on another level. i don't know why i've never really checked my answers before, but i think it's because i like thinking i'm smart and don't need to verify. I also think that, as a client, i would be discouraged if my tutor had to look something up. but then again, i would be extremely angry if they told me something that was incorrect. i always wonder about how clients feel when we do have to look things up or when we verbalize that we aren't familiar with that format or that assignment. I guess they can't be mad- it's their choice to come into the center, and it's their choice to take our suggestions or ignore them. sometimes i feel like its my personal responsibility to make sure they get a good grade, even though that's absolutely incorrect and unfair to us. that's not our job and i know that, but still...
thanks kassidy =]
thanks kassidy =]
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