[CBW_Exec] draft of CBW Social Justice Policy

[Rebecca Mlynarczyk]

Note: I can't tell if I ever actually sent this message, which I wrote a
couple of days ago. I apologize if this is a duplication. I'm not quite used
to gmail yet.  RM

Hello everyone,

I apologize for my belated (and still incomplete response). I had a minor
surgery on April 18 that has entailed a major recovery and have been
completely out of the email loop for many days. I am very glad that we're
working on a social justice statement, will read everything carefully, and
get back with a response as soon as energy permits.

Rebecca

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 1:55 PM, Susan Bernstein <susan.naomi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Greetings eveyone,
> Attached and below please find a very *rough* draft of a CBW SocialJustice
> Policy.  As you'll see, NCTE presented a 1974 PositionStatement that
> dovetails with much of what we discussed at ourExecutive Board meeting at
> CCCC.  By coincidence, the NCTE Statementwas presented in New Orleans.  Many
> thanks to my U of Cincinnatigraduate student Deborah Sanchez for directing
> me to this statement.
> Since this draft is rough and percolating at once, I look forward toour
> discussion about it on the list.  Please contribute any and allrevisions,
> questions, comments, concerns.  Given current materialconditions for
> students enrolled in Basic Writing courses, I advocatefor the urgency of our
> work-- and the open discussion that will leadto addressing the widest
> audience possible for our concerns.
> Warm regards and good wishes for the weekend,
> Susan
> Susan Naomi BernsteinLaGuardia 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 haveduly
> noted the disparities in educational conditions for our studentsenrolled in
> our Basic Writing courses across the United States.  Theseconditions point
> to lack of adequate and sufficient access toresources that would aid full
> matriculation to college, including butnot limited to:� Insufficient access
> to preparation for college-level courses basedon systemic educational
> inequities in public schools� Insufficient access to financial aid
> counseling� Insufficient access to academic advising and personal
> counselingInsufficient access to disability services� Insufficient access to
> academic and fine arts courses that fosterand sustain students� growth in
> areas related to progress in basicwriting and
> Further, we would suggest that students enrolled in honors programsand
> other more privileged educational venues enjoy routine access tosuch
> resources.  Equally important we must point out that thosestudents enrolled
> in Basic Writing courses often come fromunderrepresented and underserved
> groups in higher education andinclude African American, Latino, poor,
> working class, documented andundocumented immigrants, and students with
> disabilities.
> Basic Writing courses serve as a mirror to reflect systemic
> injusticethroughout US society. Indeed, the increased reliance on
> standardizedtests to track, measure, and reward �academic progress�
> negativelyimpacts students enrolled in Basic Writing courses. Such tests
> createrigid categories of achievement that impede students�
> educationalprogress.
> As longitudinal research has demonstrated, higher education
> providessustainable long-term benefits for achieving individual economic
> andintellectual goals, which positively impacts US society as a
> whole(Attewill and Lavin; Sternglass).  With these issues in mind,
> weadvocate that educators for Basic Writing and administrators involvedwith
> student success initiatives actively support and implement theNCTE Position
> Statement �On Support for Motivated but InadequatelyPrepared College
> Students� as suggested below.
> On Support for Motivated but Inadequately Prepared College Students1974NCTE
> Annual Business Meeting in New Orleans, LouisianaBackground
> We believe that all colleges and universities, by the act of
> admittingstudents, become responsible for creating conditions that will
> permitthose students to exercise their own right to learn.
> Clearly, some students who are admitted and who desire to learn
> lackadequate educational backgrounds to progress satisfactorily
> intraditional learning situations, and many institutions of higherlearning
> are making little or no effort to help them. Be it therefore
> Resolution
> Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English encouragecollege
> and university administrations, and legislative bodies, toallocate
> sufficient funds to provide individualized and supportiveprograms for
> students who are motivated but inadequately prepared forsuccess in colleges
> and universities to which they are being admitted.
> http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/curr/107455.htm
> _______________________________________________
> CBW_Exec mailing list
> CBW_Exec at tamu-commerce.edu
> http://mailman.tamu-commerce.edu/mailman/listinfo/cbw_exec
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.tamuc.edu/pipermail/cbw_exec/attachments/20080502/8654b33c/attachment.htm