Action, adventure, grammar!

I found it interesting that so many students focused heavily upon the various "C's" when appraising the knowledge they wished to gain from their first year composition course. Not only did the majority feel that they needed serious improvement in grammar, clarity, etc., but they downright wanted to focus on such sentence level issues. Durst does not mince words. "Students report little interest in engaging in critical analysis, in extending their writing processes, or in entering the sort of intellectual community that the composition class entails." (60) Instead, students "...emphasize writing as practical action." (60) In other words: "Who cares why Hamlet won't avenge his father, let's learn about gerunds as objects of prepositions. Woohoo!"

What a sad state of affairs.

Not that I have anything against Strunk and his ilk. Indeed, I am a firm believer in clean, concise writing. But when did thinking critically about literature get such a bad rap? It could be, as Durst rather optimistically muses, that many first year students simply aren't familiar with critical literacy and once exposed will find the view "quite congenial." Here's hoping.

I was speaking with one of the more experience MFA students earlier this week. I asked for some advice and he described breaking his Tuesday, Thursday class week in half. On Tuesday he covered the nuts and bolts of polished writing: grammar, spelling, etc. On Thursday he tackled "the bigger ideas." I'll admit I was rather distraught. I do not want to spend anywhere near half my class dwelling on sentence level issues. I'm still hazy as to the parameters Kent State will place on my class, but it seems that Durst at least is philosophically sympathetic toward my course aspirations. "While not intended to produce students whose writing is unclear, rambling, or disorganized, the critical approach emphasized in the curriculum attempts to complicate initial plans for writing and to encourage students to re-see and move beyond their early ideas." (58)

Now, will I be able to pull this off? Again, here's hoping.