<div>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</div>
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<div>Hello everyone,</div>
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<div>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.</div>
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<div>Rebecca<br><br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 1:55 PM, Susan Bernstein <<a href="mailto:susan.naomi@gmail.com" target="_blank">susan.naomi@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Greetings eveyone,<br>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.<br>
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.<br>
Warm regards and good wishes for the weekend,<br>Susan<br>Susan Naomi BernsteinLaGuardia Community College<br>Toward Social Justice for Students Enrolled in Basic Writing Courses:A Conference on Basic Writing Policy Statement<br>
<br> 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<br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
On Support for Motivated but Inadequately Prepared College Students1974NCTE Annual Business Meeting in New Orleans, LouisianaBackground<br>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.<br>
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<br>
Resolution<br>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.<br>
<a href="http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/curr/107455.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/curr/107455.htm</a><br>_______________________________________________<br>CBW_Exec mailing list<br>
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