Re: Eric and Fred's ideas on grading

["B. Silk" <bsilk@titan.iwu.edu>]

You raise an interesting question, Neal, and one that I think about 
often.  What are the qualities we value in our students?  Which ones do 
we value that others (from other disciplines or the so-called "real 
world") do not?  

Frankly, at one level I don't much give a darn if I value qualities others
don't, so long as those qualities are of value to the student himself. 
Recently I read a student evaluation in which the student thanked the
teacher for "giving me back writing."  He said he had loved writing until
his senior year in highschool when he had a teacher who said he was going
to make sure the students had the writing abilities and sense of standards
(in part, I think, what we are calling "qualities") that their professors
and employers would value.  Whatever that highschool teacher did to those 
students, it nearly destroyed writing as something of value to that 
particular student.  What a crime!  And how very fortunate his next 
writing teacher is that she had the joy of giving back to him what should 
have remained his from the beginning.

Is that what a writing teacher does?  Not inform or "teach," but restore
the valuing of self-articulation?  Even if we perceive the self as
socially constructed, it is the individual mind that struggles with
language, feels the pain, and bleeds the words onto the page.  How often
do we forget that when we're thinking about theories, standards, and
requirements? 

  --Bobbie (still rocking away on that hobby horse)

On Thu, 4 Jan 1996, Neal Lerner wrote:

> Ah, Katie, your question was one I certainly deserved.  But late me make 
> a distinction.  Perhaps the point of the classroom (maybe the point of my 
> classroom) is to help students understand, examine, and deal with life 
> experiences.  While that sounds mighty existentialist, I still wonder how 
> to deal with the incongruity of valuing certain qualities in our students 
> and in our classrooms that aren't valued outside of those contexts.  
> 
> 	Neal Lerner
> 	nlerner@acs.bu.edu
> 
> BTW:  Happy birthday, Jon!
> 
> On Wed, 3 Jan 1996, Latisha LaRue wrote:
> 
> > True enough, Neal, but is the point of the classroom to duplicate life 
> > experiecnes?
> > 		Katie
>