Comments on: Top Secret: English professors hate to teach writing

By: Scroop Moth

Scroop Moth — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:45:09 +0000

GEN-O . . . a clear connection between the writer and the audience . . . demands a trusting relationship between the two.

Between a mortal author and readers who aren’t being guided into truth by the Holy Spirit such a relationship strikes me as silly and infatuated. Plato wouldn’t fall for it.

Writers who matter to us betray doubts about what they write and retreat behind the material force of language. Milton himself concedes his authority in tough passages.

One of the tasks in good writing must be mistrusting your own composition, if for no other reason than to signal to your reader that you can handle it. I’m all in favor of irresistible inspiration, but if you don’t deconstruct what you write, you can’t construct the effects the reader wants. I suppose that “trust” can be part of the relationship, though not nearly as believable or as fun as collusion, competition, co-dependency, and excitation.

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By: Bob Buckles

Bob Buckles — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:19:28 +0000

#27 Harris

You are right, about writing that is. But what about planning to build something? Designing a new tool? Planning a trip?

There is a certain conceit that college grads sometimes have. Many things don’t depend on writing, or even a college education. Too many educators see college as the only way to get ahead. If you can’t get a college degree, you are doomed!

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By: Harris

Harris — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:43:29 +0000

Why is writing the prerequisite to thinking?

Here’s what I was thinking:
When we talk, when we think to ourself, so to speak, it is easy to skip steps. Of course, everybody knows that, we think. But they don’t.

That’s what makes writing so tough. This idea goes off in your head, and you begin to put it on paper, but all those connections start to run out. What seemed solid a minute ago in your imagination now becomes rather bland, or worse, holey.

To put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) we need first to organize our thoughts. The act of writing disciplines our mind as we clarify the tacit assumptions, back up our thoughts, and learn to appeal to the intellect and the emotions of the reader.

Of course, it is not the writing, per se, which disciplines us. It is the feedback of correction. By making our thoughts tangible or public, we can then go back and refine them. Whether it is the multiple drafts we do for ourselves, or submission-correction process of a class, the act of writing and revising trains us in what works.

In my wasted youth I did not especially see the value of this process. I learned it the hard way, writing story after story. Now everything comes with multiple drafts. Ah well, better late than never when it comes to thinking!

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By: Bob Buckles

Bob Buckles — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:52:49 +0000

Texting? What’s that?

Emails, not so much.

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By: Peter L

Peter L — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:19:36 +0000

Who needs to learn to write with texting and emails.

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By: outkast

outkast — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:49:09 +0000

I disagree with the idea that writing well is a prerequisite to good thinking.

Me too, come to think of it. Some of the best teachers, professors and pastors I’ve known over the years haven’t been able to write worth a lick. However, someone who is an excellent writer is likely to be an excellent thinker.

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By: Random Name

Random Name — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:01:11 +0000

Writing is so yesterday, but not yesterday enough.

The Egyptians had hieroglyphs. The modern world has icons.

When I buy a product and take it home and look at the so called “instruction manual” I find a few icons.

Pretty soon we will figure out how to operate the pyramids again and we will fly home to the mother planet.

Somewhere in the glyphs is a warning though.

WARNING! DANGER! DO NOT OPERATE THIS DEVICE WITHOUT OXYGEN. LACK OF OXYGEN AND EXPOSURE TO VACUUM CAN CAUSE YOUR HEAD TO EXPLODE OR CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY.

What goes around …

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By: Bob Buckles

Bob Buckles — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:59:22 +0000

I disagree with the idea that writing well is a prerequisite to good thinking. Cut it down to things that require writing and it would be much more correct.

The need for writing skills is very low for many things. Examples?
Jobs that depend on Home Depot or Lowes. “Practical arts.”

This idea is certainly not new. I saw a rough draft for California Reading Standards in the very early 1990s. It measured reading ability by how well students were able to write. By this standard I would have been considered a poor reader. When I was 9 my favorite book was Men of Iron” by Howard Pyle. It was listed at a Grade 9.6 reading level. I couldn’t write to save my life!

MDs certainly would fail this test. By and large they can’t write!

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By: Kennethos

Kennethos — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:42:33 +0000

My English teacher in college taught us how to write…longhand…in cursive…proper papers…within a class period. I flunked my first paper, and rightly so. It took a lot of work to finally earn an A, but is was well worth it.
Of course, I’ve always been writing on a word processor, and never have any problems here, so….

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By: momof5

momof5 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:13:49 +0000

I worked for a while on the business side of a sign shop. I kept the books, but once the owners found out I was adept at grammar and spelling, I also proofed every sign before we delivered the product.

These wonderfully creative people had invested lots of materials in signs without ever noticing misspellings–expensive, and bad business!

They never asked me to design any logos, though…

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