College Writing in the College Classroom

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College Writing in the College Classroom

If someone were to ask a group of people what is the purpose of a college writing course in today’s society, they would have to first think about the purpose of college in today’s society.There would probably be a variety of thoughts and images that come to mind like “it’s a place where you can get a degree,” “a place where you can learn things that prepare you for the real world,” or “ it’s a place where you can further your education from where you left off in high school.”The group may also think of things like “a place just like regular school, except it’s harder, and you have to pay for it,” or “the place that you have to go to if you want a chance at any real decent job.”But in all actuality, that’s only looking at face value.College provides you with the necessary tools needed to improve yourself in the ways that you choose.

Now if you added the words “college” and “writing course” together, you may get a phrase that may be intimidating to some people.When people see the word “college,” the word “advanced” may come to mind.Even the phrase “writing class” may be enough to scare away some people.The thought of a “college writing class” may be unbearable.Why would even mentioning the phrase “college writing class” strike fear in the hearts of men?More than likely these people, or students, probably went through their entire school writing careers with a variety of different teachers.Each of these teachers probably had different views, and methods of teaching writing.

This accusation won’t relate to everyone, but I can confidently present this theory based on personal experience.Each of my four high school English courses were different in many different ways.In my freshman ...

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...ortable in the classroom environment.The teacher should be understanding of each person’s opinions, and respect what writing that they feel should be confidential.While it isn’t that important for a teacher to teach exactly like another, it is important that they focus on trying to meet the same goals.If both student and teacher worked together and respected each other’s opinions and techniques, then that would be a large step in improving how the subject of English is taught and learned in the college classroom.

Works Cited

Hairston, Maxine. “Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing.” College Composition and Communication 43.2. May 1992: 179-195.

Swartzlander, Susan, Diana Pace, Virginia Lee Stamler. “Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing” The Chronicle of Higher Education. 1993: B1-B2.

Tan, Amy. ”Mother Tongue.” The Threepenny Review. 1990

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