Post 233: Is Freshman English Composition class a waste of time?
Many colleges are short on money and they have to decide, do I want to spend extra money on another English class or should I spend money on a more lucrative STEM class? By aligning English Composition with WAC and STEM, English Composition has found its new purpose for the 21st century.
When I was in college, Freshman English Composition class was called 'Bonehead' English Composition class meaning only students who are stupid enough to flunk their English Writing Placement test have to take Freshman English Composition class.
Another negative perception of Freshman English Composition class is that it is a 'remedial' class for students who lack English writing skills that they were supposed to have learned in high school and the Freshman English Composition class was supposed to 'fix' the student's writing abilities so they can catch up to other students.
The irony is when Freshman English Composition class was started to improve student literacy so that they could write papers for the Classic Studies department and keep up with other literature students at Harvard University. In the beginning, Freshman English Composition was not looked down upon like it is today.
Today, only 'dummies' take Freshman English Composition and English faculty are loathe to teach English Composition because they want to teach American or English Literature. As a result, by tradition, newbies to the English Department have been assigned the dreaded Freshman English Composition class.
Reformists said that educators can improve student literacy through Freshman English classes while Abolitionists stated that Freshman English Composition class was a waste of time draining the resources of the English department.
Meanwhile, faculty from other departments kept complaining about the low quality of student writing skills and these faculty blamed the English department and the English department blamed the inefficient Freshman English Composition class.
However, when Freshman English Composition teachers started reaching out to ask other faculty members, "What writing requirements are needed in your field?", then other faculty realized that they too could help the English Department teach writng. Hence, the Writing Across the Curriculum Movement was born.
At AMU where I worked, members of the English Department took a survey and asked the Program Directors of all departments, 'What writing needs does your department require? What research method requirements does your department require?" Rather than blame the English department for low writing skills of students, all faculty worked together to come up with a writing requirement checklist which gave birth to the Writing Across the Disciplines Freshman English Composition class.
So rather than just teach students how to write the classic literature essay for the English department, WAC now teaches the types of writing genres that students are expected to know for all their majors including STEM and Business majors---It is the WAC movement that resulted in the rebirth of the old clunky classic Freshman English Composition class.
I remember hearing how my English teacher colleagues used to hate how other faculty would complain about how students did not know how to write implying the English faculty were not doing their jobs, well with WAC, faculty of all content areas are encouraged to make teaching student writing a part of their curriculum
Instead of pointing fingers of blame, all faculty working together to develop a WAC program teaching students how to write is a great idea. By aligning more Gen Ed classes with STEM raises its overall value in the eyes of administrators and by teaching students how to apply what they learn in Freshman English to STEM values, administrators see Freshman English Composition as part of the educating students on writing in the digital age.
See the WAC Clearninghouse website for more information on WAC and WAC assignments.
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