Prof responds: grammar woes
Dr. Christopher Busch Professor of English
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Opinion
John Krudy raises some important issues in his cleverly titled opinion piece, "Annihilate Bad Grammar Professor or Rather, Annihilate Bad Grammar, Professors" that appeared in last week's Collegian. I make no claim to be writing for my colleagues in the English department, but I would like to share my own perspective and perhaps suggest some useful ways of addressing this perennially vexing problem.
First of all, after twenty-two years of teaching freshman English, I concur fully with Mr. Krudy's assessment of the state of some college students' writing (in)abilities, including grammatical (in)competence. Some students coming to college today arrive without adequate preparation or practice in writing correct, fluent, interesting prose in their native language, English.
Fifty years ago, schools routinely taught grammar as part of their language arts curricula beginning in kindergarten and extending well into high school. Even as late as the 1960s and 1970s, when I went to school, most students spent many hours diagramming sentences, learning the differences between simple, compound and complex constructions, paying attention to subject-verb agreement, practicing correct punctuation - in short, learning the skills some students lack when they walk into English 101. Significantly, good teachers at good schools still emphasize these things. If students can't write a complete sentence or use an apostrophe correctly after thirteen years of language arts study, either their schools failed them or they weren't paying attention.
Not to possess these skills must be frustrating, and to earn a C (or worse) on an essay brings little cheer or satisfaction. However, requiring professors to devote "a portion (measured in hours) of our core classes to grammar and style" would, it seems to me, weaken rather than strengthen our curriculum. It would subject students who have been adequately prepared in elementary and high school - and there are more than a few here at Hillsdale - to uselessly repetitive lessons. Further, as Mr. Krudy acknowledges, such a mandate would deprive all students of the fullest opportunity to do college-level work, including studying Kafka and Eliot.
I think Mr. Krudy's piece ably acknowledges some of the efforts by our faculty to improve student writing, from Dr. Moran's style class, to Drs. Sundahl and Freeh's late night (gleeful?) editing, to the Writing Center's tutorial sessions (free to everyone). Yet I think Mr. Krudy perhaps misses a clear solution to the problem, even while noting its required condition.
In his words, "Students willing to work at improving their writing will probably succeed." As I see it, that's the solution. That's the secret. Students who are willing to work have a perfect opportunity to make great strides in their writing competence. I've seen it happen many times over the years, and I'm sure my colleagues have, too. The steps are simple:
1). Set aside plenty of time to write, preferably not starting at midnight the day before the assignment is due.
2). Take seriously your professor's offers of assistance. See him or her as you work through the writing process. Why would you go to a "small coterie of sophomores" (however gifted) for writing assistance when you could get your professor's help instead - unless of course you were trying to write your paper at midnight the day before it is due. (See point No. 1)
3). Carefully read your professor's gleefully written comments on your papers. Review those comments with your professor. Make the necessary corrections, and avoid making those same mistakes again.
I don't believe that learning to write well at Hillsdale requires improved "systems" or radical curricular changes. It does require, though, like anything worth doing in life, hard work and some individual initiative. Sometimes a lot of individual initiative. (Yes, that's a fragment.)
Hillsdale College Collegian 2008
First of all, after twenty-two years of teaching freshman English, I concur fully with Mr. Krudy's assessment of the state of some college students' writing (in)abilities, including grammatical (in)competence. Some students coming to college today arrive without adequate preparation or practice in writing correct, fluent, interesting prose in their native language, English.
Fifty years ago, schools routinely taught grammar as part of their language arts curricula beginning in kindergarten and extending well into high school. Even as late as the 1960s and 1970s, when I went to school, most students spent many hours diagramming sentences, learning the differences between simple, compound and complex constructions, paying attention to subject-verb agreement, practicing correct punctuation - in short, learning the skills some students lack when they walk into English 101. Significantly, good teachers at good schools still emphasize these things. If students can't write a complete sentence or use an apostrophe correctly after thirteen years of language arts study, either their schools failed them or they weren't paying attention.
Not to possess these skills must be frustrating, and to earn a C (or worse) on an essay brings little cheer or satisfaction. However, requiring professors to devote "a portion (measured in hours) of our core classes to grammar and style" would, it seems to me, weaken rather than strengthen our curriculum. It would subject students who have been adequately prepared in elementary and high school - and there are more than a few here at Hillsdale - to uselessly repetitive lessons. Further, as Mr. Krudy acknowledges, such a mandate would deprive all students of the fullest opportunity to do college-level work, including studying Kafka and Eliot.
I think Mr. Krudy's piece ably acknowledges some of the efforts by our faculty to improve student writing, from Dr. Moran's style class, to Drs. Sundahl and Freeh's late night (gleeful?) editing, to the Writing Center's tutorial sessions (free to everyone). Yet I think Mr. Krudy perhaps misses a clear solution to the problem, even while noting its required condition.
In his words, "Students willing to work at improving their writing will probably succeed." As I see it, that's the solution. That's the secret. Students who are willing to work have a perfect opportunity to make great strides in their writing competence. I've seen it happen many times over the years, and I'm sure my colleagues have, too. The steps are simple:
1). Set aside plenty of time to write, preferably not starting at midnight the day before the assignment is due.
2). Take seriously your professor's offers of assistance. See him or her as you work through the writing process. Why would you go to a "small coterie of sophomores" (however gifted) for writing assistance when you could get your professor's help instead - unless of course you were trying to write your paper at midnight the day before it is due. (See point No. 1)
3). Carefully read your professor's gleefully written comments on your papers. Review those comments with your professor. Make the necessary corrections, and avoid making those same mistakes again.
I don't believe that learning to write well at Hillsdale requires improved "systems" or radical curricular changes. It does require, though, like anything worth doing in life, hard work and some individual initiative. Sometimes a lot of individual initiative. (Yes, that's a fragment.)
Hillsdale College Collegian 2008
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