[CBW_Exec] Fwd: draft of CBW Social Justice Policy
Sugie Goen-Salter
sgoen at sfsu.edu
Wed Apr 30 15:58:51 CDT 2008
Hi everyone,
I've been reading this exchange with great interest and, as many
others have already said, I think it's such an important discussion
and one I'm glad we are having.
I have been chewing on something that I want to toss out, albeit
reluctantly, a tension I struggle with in my professional life and
that this discussion has brought back to mind. I'm thinking here of
Sharon Crowley's work and the work of others who have called for the
abolition of the introductory writing requirement, and by extension,
the BW course. (I would also include Bartholomae's "Tidy House" here
and more recently Soliday's work). In my reading of it, the critique
hinges on BW's role in normalizing student writing, in bringing it
into conformity with some abstract notion of "the standard" by
eradicating what is non-standard, non-conventional or non-native
thereby maintaining a system of educational inequality. According to
this critique, BW is simply too tied up with the maintenance of
educational, cultural and linguistic inequality for us to claim its
innocence.
I know, I know.....I too am still committed to that story we love to
tell (as Bartholomae puts it) about BW's role in securing equal
educational opportunity and access, but on my campus at least, I
can't ignore how BW serves an institutional function tied to other
institutional functions, such as standardized placement testing,
graduation assessments of written English proficiency, uniform
standards of achievement, in short, BW's role in re-producing the
status quo.
Just thought I'd brighten your day with the cheery thoughts going
through my head.
Sugie
On Apr 29, 2008, at 12:40 PM, Ribble, Marcia (ribbleml) wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> To complicate things a bit, I'd like to suggest that we're not
> fully understanding the
> causal chains leading to students who are underprepared for college
> writing if we
> equate being in basic writing with being in a state of deprivation
> or injustice. Not
> all BW students are in poverty. Some are quite privileged and some
> wealthy.
> Just like not all BW students have disabilities, even though some do.
>
> True enough, at some institutions, the majority of BW students are
> lower classed,
> people of color, but that's just not the case in other places. The
> first students who
> benefitted from writing classes were at Harvard, and many of our
> premier institutions
> have students who need BW support. I taught BW students at
> Michigan State and
> half of them were inner city kids from Detroit, while the other
> half were international
> students from all over the world and had lots of money and spoke
> multiple languages.
> But even the Detroit kids were split into the haves and have nots
> with some of them
> driving Bentleys around campus.
>
> Could we make a statement that could be more inclusive of all the
> kinds of mechanisms
> that eventually mean students show up in our classes whether they
> are part of patterns of
> social injustice or not? Look at Bush who was privileged to the
> nth degree but had
> problems with reading and writing...Doesn't it say something
> important to understand
> that his family's wealth couldn't buy him an education that would
> allow him to be smart
> enough to stand up to people like Cheney, Rove, and Rumsfeld?
> Doesn't an inadequate
> education harm even the wealthiest students, put them into a
> position to be codgeled into
> stupid decision making?
>
> And if that's not enough, look at Paris Hilton. BW isn't just
> about injustice, it's also about an
> educational system that from K-16+ doesn't get it in ways that help
> all learners to learn. There
> are probably hundreds of different paths that take students from
> kindergarten to the college
> BW classroom. I'm out of steam...and starting to ramble....I know
> what I learned in kindergarten.
> It's time for a snack and a nap.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Marcia Ribble, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor of English
> Humanities, Media and Cultural Studies
> College of Applied Science
> University of Cincinnati
> PO Box 210205
> Cincinnati, OH 45221-0205
> Tel: (513) 556-5360
> Fax: (513) 556-3007
> marcia.ribble at uc.edu
> www.uc.edu
>
> Campus location: 4412 French Hall West
>
> From: cbw_exec-bounces at tamu-commerce.edu on behalf of Ashley, Hannah
> Sent: Tue 4/29/2008 2:22 PM
> To: Shannon Carter; Susan Bernstein; cbw_exec at tamu-commerce.edu
> Cc: sanchezdeborah at yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: [CBW_Exec] Fwd: draft of CBW Social Justice Policy
>
> Hurray for this conversation! I suggest that we continue it
> online, and also use all of these thoughts to continue this
> conversation all the way at next year's CBW workshop (assuming it
> is accepted)--we have a nice program leading us around these ideas,
> with the idea of basic writers' multiple literacies starting us
> off, and ending with a look at the National Database and what it
> might tell us about what we assume about basic writers.
>
> 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--
>
> From: cbw_exec-bounces at tamu-commerce.edu on behalf of Shannon Carter
> Sent: Tue 4/29/2008 2:20 PM
> To: Susan Bernstein; cbw_exec at tamu-commerce.edu
> Cc: sanchezdeborah at yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: [CBW_Exec] Fwd: draft of CBW Social Justice Policy
>
> 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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Sugie Goen-Salter
Associate Professor
English Department
San Francisco State University
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