Re: wc's, faculty referral, student resposibility

[Twila.Yates.Papay@Rollins.Edu]

Eric, why didn't I have the sense to say it like that?  Thanks for being 
succinct--and so accurate!  twila

On Sat, 2 Nov 1996, Eric Crump wrote:

> Deb & Twila,
> 
> I'm sure there were probably nuances to Christina's talk not capturable in
> a quick summary, but I'm wary of her suggestion that we embrace the
> 'inherent hierarchy' in tutor-tutee relationships. That claim is, in its
> short form anyway, an apparent concession to academic traditions that
> assign and enforce authority without much regard for knowledge and quality
> but by credential instead.
> 
> Maybe it would be helpful to consider two different kinds of hierarchy: of
> knowledge and of authority. 
> 
> It seems to me Christina might have been talking about the former, which
> assumes that tutors have more experience and training in writing and
> writing instruction and therefore are superior to most tutees *in the
> context of the writing center.*
> 
> The latter, hierarchy of authority, is a bit of a problem. I'd hate to see
> one (knowledge) get conflated with the other (athority) because in that
> case the writing center isn't much better as a venue for productive
> relationships than the classroom, which tends *not* to be a venue for
> productive relationships. Teachers, by institutional mandate, have full
> claim to superiority in knowledge and authority, quite aside from the
> actual relationship between actual people in the actual room.
> 
> Even teased apart like that, I'd still be mighty wary of accepting
> 'inherent' hierarchies of any kind. Strikes me as verging on rationalizing
> conventional assignments of power, no matter how you cut it. And it seems
> to gloss over the richly various *number* of hierarchies present in any
> complex set of human relations. Institutionalized hierarchies often work
> like blinders, preventing us from seeing quality wherever it resides since
> we think it only legitimately resides where we expect it. 
> 
> In other words, ascribing to an inherent hierarchy of knowledge in the
> writing center might make us miss the cases (the *many* cases) where
> students who come for help can offer it as well, since they bring with
> them knowledge that tutors perhaps do not have--about their subjects and
> about writing. 
> 
> Expertise can be a trap.
> 
> --Eric Crump
> 
> 
>