[CBW_Exec] Fwd: draft of CBW Social Justice Policy

Tue Apr 29 13:20:47 CDT 2008

Thank you so much for these words, Peter. Very, very good points (and poignantly articulated). As Soliday's work has shown (I'm convinced), the very existence of basic writing programs serves the institutional need to stratify more than it does the student's individual needs as writers (see _The Politics of Remediation_). She isn't suggesting that we rid our universities of basic writing programs because that'd only block student access in more significant ways. But it is important that we remember how very complex and socially embedded issues of social justice always are. There's no free zone, and good will and hard work isn't going to be enough to right the wrongs of society. 

It is also important, however (as Bill points out), to find ways to articulate that kinda thing that aren't off-putting to readers who might otherwise embrace a social justice policy like this. We don't want to alienate. We want to invite real and important discussion and commitment to this very complex topic. I like very much the way Peter has articulated this complexity below (inviting and diplomatic and smart and real). Perhaps we can make use of some of this language, or a version of it, in the revision? 

Shannon Carter
Associate Professor of English
Texas A&M-Commerce
shannon_carter at tamu-commerce.edu
http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/scarter/
903-886-5492

________________________________

From: cbw_exec-bounces at tamu-commerce.edu on behalf of Susan Bernstein
Sent: Tue 4/29/2008 12:59 PM
To: cbw_exec at tamu-commerce.edu
Cc: sanchezdeborah at yahoo.com
Subject: [CBW_Exec] Fwd: draft of CBW Social Justice Policy

>From Peter Adams:

The issue Bill and Shannon are wrestling with is complex and important.  Many of us have worked for years in basic writing programs that we believe are part of the solution to social injustice.  However, I think, painful as it may be, that we must be willing to consider the possibility that the programs we have developed and labored in for years may, in fact, not be reducing social injustice.  I raise this possibility because of the very low retention rates and success rates in many developmental writing programs, including my own. 

It is certainly a good thing for us to raise issues about social injustice in the wider world and in higher education in general, but I think we have an important obligation to examine our own (tidy) house, to see if we are part of the problem.  Perhaps we are not.  Perhaps my concern is misplaced.  But I do think we have an obligation to examine seriously the extent to which basic writing programs may contribute to the failure of higher education to provide a pathway to success for disadvantaged students.  We have an obligation to see whether we can revise our programs so that they truly provide a pathway to success rather than an gate that keeps large percentages of our students from achieving that success.

Peter Adams 

-----Original Message-----
From: cbw_exec-bounces at tamu-commerce.edu on behalf of Susan Bernstein
Sent: Tue 4/29/2008 10:22 AM
To: Shannon Carter
Cc: sanchezdeborah at yahoo.com; cbw_exec at tamu-commerce.edu; Ashley,Hannah
Subject: Re: [CBW_Exec] draft of CBW Social Justice Policy

Thanks, everyone!  In regard to Hannah's comments, I'll take another
look at Valerie F. Kinloch's 2005 article "Revisiting the promise of
Students' Right to Their Own Language: Pedagogical strategies" in
College Composition and Communication 57.1: 83-113. "Students' Right"
is also from 1974 and evolves from many similar concerns of that era.
Kinloch makes the very persuasive case that those concerns remain
relevant for the 21st century.

I've also copied Bill's comments below.  I need to add that I disagree
with Bill on this point, based on my current research and more than 20
years in the field-- especially the last five years working with
inner-city youth in open-access BW college programs.

BILL'S COMMENTS:
Susan, I like it. I would however change a line that says "Basic Writing
 > courses serve as a mirror to reflect injustice [etc.]"--could be construed
 > to suggest that Basic Writing helps to further that injustice...or that BW
 > by its existence is part of the injustice, and although it's true that if
 > all students were provided equitable and strong prep, sufficient economic
 > support at the pre-college level, and a social context conducive to the best
 > education possible, prior to college, BW arguably wouldn't exist, I think we
 > want to make sure we focus on BW as a positive force and not as a barometer
 > of injustice... Therefore, maybe a change of wording would be good. How
 > about something like "Basic Writing courses often serve a community of
 > students who have been previously subjected to social and educational
 > injustice..."? Just a thought... Bill

On 4/28/08, Shannon Carter <Shannon_Carter at tamu-commerce.edu> wrote:
> Ah, great point. What can we make of/do with that 34 year gap between the
> original statement and today's call? Rhetorically? Politically? Practically?
>
> Shannon Carter
> Associate Professor of English
> Texas A&M-Commerce
> shannon_carter at tamu-commerce.edu
> http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/scarter/
> 903-886-5492
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ashley, Hannah [mailto:HAshley at wcupa.edu]
> Sent: Mon 4/28/2008 7:20 AM
> To: Shannon Carter; Susan Bernstein
> Cc: sanchezdeborah at yahoo.com; cbw_exec at tamu-commerce.edu
> Subject: RE: [CBW_Exec] draft of CBW Social Justice Policy
>
> I too approve of the spirit and the general rhetorical drift of this
> resolution.  Nice work!  I would want to "do" something with the fact that
> what we are doing is calling on a 1974 resolution.  That is, what does it
> mean in 2008 to be reaffirming that statement?
>
> Hannah
>
> Hannah Ashley, Ph. D.
> Associate Professor, Composition and Rhetoric Program, Department of English
> Director, Writing Zones 12.5 (www.wcupa.edu/writingzones)
> 551 Main Hall, West Chester University
> 610-738-0499, hashley at wcupa.edu
> "If you're not terrified when you are writing, you're writing about the
> wrong things."  --Dorothy Alison--
>
> __

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Susan Bernstein [mailto:susan.naomi at gmail.com]
> Sent: Fri 4/25/2008 12:55 PM
> To: Shannon Carter
> Cc: cbw_exec at tamu-commerce.edu; sanchezdeborah at yahoo.com
> Subject: draft of CBW Social Justice Policy
>
> Greetings eveyone,
>
> Attached and below please find a very *rough* draft of a CBW Social
> Justice Policy.  As you'll see, NCTE presented a 1974 Position
> Statement that dovetails with much of what we discussed at our
> Executive Board meeting at CCCC.  By coincidence, the NCTE Statement
> was presented in New Orleans.  Many thanks to my U of Cincinnati
> graduate student Deborah Sanchez for directing me to this statement.
>
> Since this draft is rough and percolating at once, I look forward to
> our discussion about it on the list.  Please contribute any and all
> revisions, questions, comments, concerns.  Given current material
> conditions for students enrolled in Basic Writing courses, I advocate
> for the urgency of our work-- and the open discussion that will lead
> to addressing the widest audience possible for our concerns.
>
> Warm regards and good wishes for the weekend,
>
> Susan
>
> Susan Naomi Bernstein
> LaGuardia Community College
>
> Toward Social Justice for Students Enrolled in Basic Writing Courses:
> A Conference on Basic Writing Policy Statement
>
>
>  We of the Executive Board of the Conference on Basic Writing have
> duly noted the disparities in educational conditions for our students
> enrolled in our Basic Writing courses across the United States.  These
> conditions point to lack of adequate and sufficient access to
> resources that would aid full matriculation to college, including but
> not limited to:
> ? Insufficient access to preparation for college-level courses based
> on systemic educational inequities in public schools
> ? Insufficient access to financial aid counseling
> ? Insufficient access to academic advising and personal counseling
> Insufficient access to disability services
> ? Insufficient access to academic and fine arts courses that foster
> and sustain students? growth in areas related to progress in basic
> writing and
>
> Further, we would suggest that students enrolled in honors programs
> and other more privileged educational venues enjoy routine access to
> such resources.  Equally important we must point out that those
> students enrolled in Basic Writing courses often come from
> underrepresented and underserved groups in higher education and
> include African American, Latino, poor, working class, documented and
> undocumented immigrants, and students with disabilities.
>
> Basic Writing courses serve as a mirror to reflect systemic injustice
> throughout US society. Indeed, the increased reliance on standardized
> tests to track, measure, and reward ?academic progress? negatively
> impacts students enrolled in Basic Writing courses. Such tests create
> rigid categories of achievement that impede students? educational
> progress.
>
> As longitudinal research has demonstrated, higher education provides
> sustainable long-term benefits for achieving individual economic and
> intellectual goals, which positively impacts US society as a whole
> (Attewill and Lavin; Sternglass).  With these issues in mind, we
> advocate that educators for Basic Writing and administrators involved
> with student success initiatives actively support and implement the
> NCTE Position Statement ?On Support for Motivated but Inadequately
> Prepared College Students? as suggested below.
>
> On Support for Motivated but Inadequately Prepared College Students
> 1974
> NCTE Annual Business Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana
> Background
>
> We believe that all colleges and universities, by the act of admitting
> students, become responsible for creating conditions that will permit
> those students to exercise their own right to learn.
>
> Clearly, some students who are admitted and who desire to learn lack
> adequate educational backgrounds to progress satisfactorily in
> traditional learning situations, and many institutions of higher
> learning are making little or no effort to help them. Be it therefore
>
> Resolution
>
> Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English encourage
> college and university administrations, and legislative bodies, to
> allocate sufficient funds to provide individualized and supportive
> programs for students who are motivated but inadequately prepared for
> success in colleges and universities to which they are being admitted.
>
> http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/curr/107455.htm

______________________________
>
> From: cbw_exec-bounces at tamu-commerce.edu on behalf of Shannon Carter
> Sent: Sun 4/27/2008 2:46 AM
> To: Susan Bernstein
> Cc: sanchezdeborah at yahoo.com; cbw_exec at tamu-commerce.edu
> Subject: Re: [CBW_Exec] draft of CBW Social Justice Policy
>
>
>
> Wow! I can't think of anything to add and I agree: this work is indeed
> crucial. The revision Sonya has created of the CCCC/CBW Fellowship call for
> apps really foregrounds advocacy in ways this policy articulates. At least I
> think it does.
>
> And I look forward to our discussion and, eventually (perhaps following
> revision suggestions), approval of this important policy statement. I also
> look forward to including such statements on our website.
>
> What do you guys think? How do we feel about the wording, the spirit, and
> the goals of this draft and project?
>
> Thanks,
> Shannon
>
> Shannon Carter
> Associate Professor of English
> Texas A&M-Commerce
> shannon_carter at tamu-commerce.edu
> http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/scarter/
> 903-886-5492
>
>

>
>
>
>
>

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