Re: the tutee's privacy

[karen stewart <stewartk@beloit.edu>]

Kevin,

I couldn't agree with you more.  Well said.

Karen Stewart
The Writing Program/Writing Center
Beloit College
Beloit, WI 53511 

At 08:56 AM 9/4/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Noreen,
>    At the heart of your questions is another one: for 
>whom do you work?  Some WCs clearly work for the 
>professor, using referral forms to bring people to the 
>WC, mandatory report forms to keep the prof posted.  
>I believe this model clearly implies that the professor
>is at the center of the learning process and, therefore,
>at the center of what the WC does.
>
>    However,  I decided many years ago that our WC 
>would work for students.  As a result, we don't have 
>referral forms for profs to use, and all of our business 
>is walk-in, students who have brought themselves to 
>the WC.  I believe that this model clearly implies that the
>student is at the center of the learning process.
>
>     That said, here's my answer to your question.  Since 
>some profs give extra credit to coerce students to use 
>the WC and since some students otherwise want their 
>profs to know they've been to the WC, we have a 
>student-initiated reporting system.  At the end of a 
>session, we give the student a summary form, saying
>"If you want your prof to know you've been here, 
>fill this out and leave it with me, and we'll send it to your
>professor."  This approach makes the choice entirely
>the student's, and it makes reporting what went on the
>student's task (we feel less like tattle-tales this way).
>Interestingly, about 90% of our FYC students fill out 
>the form, but less than 5% of our other business.
>
>I believe my position is in the minority on this list.  And 
>many of the people who disagree with me can offer 
>very good reasons for using other systems.  I urge you
>to look over those other positions, too.
>
>But the bottom line, to me, is this.  A WC has to have an
>underlying operational philosophy.  The director has to
>be able to comfortably live within that philosophy.  And 
>the ultimate decision on reporting and a lot of other things
>comes from that operational philosophy.  So don't just
>consider WHAT we do, but consider WHY we do what
>we do, and decide what kind of WC you want to build.
>
>kevin
>
>
>