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<TITLE>RE: draft of CBW Social Justice Policy</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>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.<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
What do you guys think? How do we feel about the wording, the spirit, and the goals of this draft and project?<BR>
<BR>
Thanks,<BR>
Shannon<BR>
<BR>
Shannon Carter<BR>
Associate Professor of English<BR>
Texas A&M-Commerce<BR>
shannon_carter@tamu-commerce.edu<BR>
<A HREF="http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/scarter/">http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/scarter/</A><BR>
903-886-5492<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-----Original Message-----<BR>
From: Susan Bernstein [<A HREF="mailto:susan.naomi@gmail.com">mailto:susan.naomi@gmail.com</A>]<BR>
Sent: Fri 4/25/2008 12:55 PM<BR>
To: Shannon Carter<BR>
Cc: cbw_exec@tamu-commerce.edu; sanchezdeborah@yahoo.com<BR>
Subject: draft of CBW Social Justice Policy<BR>
<BR>
Greetings eveyone,<BR>
<BR>
Attached and below please find a very *rough* draft of a CBW Social<BR>
Justice Policy. As you'll see, NCTE presented a 1974 Position<BR>
Statement that dovetails with much of what we discussed at our<BR>
Executive Board meeting at CCCC. By coincidence, the NCTE Statement<BR>
was presented in New Orleans. Many thanks to my U of Cincinnati<BR>
graduate student Deborah Sanchez for directing me to this statement.<BR>
<BR>
Since this draft is rough and percolating at once, I look forward to<BR>
our discussion about it on the list. Please contribute any and all<BR>
revisions, questions, comments, concerns. Given current material<BR>
conditions for students enrolled in Basic Writing courses, I advocate<BR>
for the urgency of our work-- and the open discussion that will lead<BR>
to addressing the widest audience possible for our concerns.<BR>
<BR>
Warm regards and good wishes for the weekend,<BR>
<BR>
Susan<BR>
<BR>
Susan Naomi Bernstein<BR>
LaGuardia Community College<BR>
<BR>
Toward Social Justice for Students Enrolled in Basic Writing Courses:<BR>
A Conference on Basic Writing Policy Statement<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
We of the Executive Board of the Conference on Basic Writing have<BR>
duly noted the disparities in educational conditions for our students<BR>
enrolled in our Basic Writing courses across the United States. These<BR>
conditions point to lack of adequate and sufficient access to<BR>
resources that would aid full matriculation to college, including but<BR>
not limited to:<BR>
? Insufficient access to preparation for college-level courses based<BR>
on systemic educational inequities in public schools<BR>
? Insufficient access to financial aid counseling<BR>
? Insufficient access to academic advising and personal counseling<BR>
Insufficient access to disability services<BR>
? Insufficient access to academic and fine arts courses that foster<BR>
and sustain students? growth in areas related to progress in basic<BR>
writing and<BR>
<BR>
Further, we would suggest that students enrolled in honors programs<BR>
and other more privileged educational venues enjoy routine access to<BR>
such resources. Equally important we must point out that those<BR>
students enrolled in Basic Writing courses often come from<BR>
underrepresented and underserved groups in higher education and<BR>
include African American, Latino, poor, working class, documented and<BR>
undocumented immigrants, and students with disabilities.<BR>
<BR>
Basic Writing courses serve as a mirror to reflect systemic injustice<BR>
throughout US society. Indeed, the increased reliance on standardized<BR>
tests to track, measure, and reward ?academic progress? negatively<BR>
impacts students enrolled in Basic Writing courses. Such tests create<BR>
rigid categories of achievement that impede students? educational<BR>
progress.<BR>
<BR>
As longitudinal research has demonstrated, higher education provides<BR>
sustainable long-term benefits for achieving individual economic and<BR>
intellectual goals, which positively impacts US society as a whole<BR>
(Attewill and Lavin; Sternglass). With these issues in mind, we<BR>
advocate that educators for Basic Writing and administrators involved<BR>
with student success initiatives actively support and implement the<BR>
NCTE Position Statement ?On Support for Motivated but Inadequately<BR>
Prepared College Students? as suggested below.<BR>
<BR>
On Support for Motivated but Inadequately Prepared College Students<BR>
1974<BR>
NCTE Annual Business Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana<BR>
Background<BR>
<BR>
We believe that all colleges and universities, by the act of admitting<BR>
students, become responsible for creating conditions that will permit<BR>
those students to exercise their own right to learn.<BR>
<BR>
Clearly, some students who are admitted and who desire to learn lack<BR>
adequate educational backgrounds to progress satisfactorily in<BR>
traditional learning situations, and many institutions of higher<BR>
learning are making little or no effort to help them. Be it therefore<BR>
<BR>
Resolution<BR>
<BR>
Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English encourage<BR>
college and university administrations, and legislative bodies, to<BR>
allocate sufficient funds to provide individualized and supportive<BR>
programs for students who are motivated but inadequately prepared for<BR>
success in colleges and universities to which they are being admitted.<BR>
<BR>
<A HREF="http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/curr/107455.htm">http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/curr/107455.htm</A><BR>
<BR>
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