I think most all students are mainly concerned about getting a good grade rather than becoming a better writer. I know from my personal experience that I am definitely worried about getting a good grade on a paper rather than actually learning the content I'm writing about. Last class period, when we talked about this issue, I decided that from now on I'm not going to worry as much about my grades, and pay more attention to just learning the material in general. I think students get caught up in worrying about their GPA's and disregard why they're actually in college... TO LEARN! I could relate to this article because I am insecure about working with students who have a science or engineering major because I do not know much in either field, and it worries me that I'm going to tell them wrong. I don't really know those areas and I honestly think it'd be better at some times to have people in the writing room who have similar majors, so all students can benefit from the center equally. The part in the essay about Maria reminded me of the topic we talked about in class last week. Maria wanted her paper perfected so she could get into graduate school, and I think the tutor did the right thing by focusing on her text, because it's obvious she was smart enough; she had letters of recommendation from the president of the university and the scholar that ran the center for peace studies, so I think she definitely had what it took to get in. I liked how he just gave her really specific instructions and told her to clarify certain parts rather than having her rewrite certain things altogether and writing her paper for her. I think as long as the student and tutor work collaboratively and both are able to understand the strengths and weaknesses in a text, then it's fine to correct certain phrasing and grammar errors in a paper.
Our main focus as tutors is to be flexible and be able to transform your style of tutoring so it best suits the student's needs. Usually, we should try to create better writers and work on the writers more than the text, but I think Maria's case is different and the tutor made the right decision by helping her with the text.
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I see a definite trend in studets to be grade focused rather than focused on what they learn because, let's be honest, before a future employer or a graduate program head meets the lovely and talented human being you are, your grades are the focus; the culmination of who you are. This may be unfair, but where there has to be a weeding out process, this is the most sensible way to get it done.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in that there are times when we need to be text-oriented especially when the student is good already. I also have the same issue working with student from different discipline. Once I decided to give up and asked other experienced tutor to help a student who was working on her presentation instead because I wasn't familiar with the concepts and the presentation seemed to be important enough that I didn't dare to take the risk.
ReplyDeleteI'm very guilty of being concerned with my gpa. Although i am able to step back and be like whoa i actually learned something! Unfortunately writing "well my gpa is only a 2.0 but i learned a lot!!" on an application will probably not get you very far.
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of being concerned with my GPA. I am extremely achievement-orientated and like to be good at everything I do. I also realize I can't know everything. We should not risk our clients' grades because we're too proud to ask for help, but we should also stick around long enough to learn something.
ReplyDeleteHey, even professors are guilty of being text-centered, so don't beat yourselves up. I'm part of a Junior Faculty Research Group (the J-Frogs, I call us), and when we sit down to discuss each other's work, I don't think any of us are focused on helping one another become better writers. We're all focused on helping one another publish, which means we focus entirely on the text, not on one another as writers. I wonder what would happen if we changed that model...
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