THIS ARTICLE examines how institutions of higher education conflate moral and descriptive terms for good, bad, remedial, and basic writing students. It outlines some of the social and historical developments that have led to exclusionary admissions and curricular requirements, and identifies how Christian institutions are complicit in these developments. It demonstrates how Christian institutions are well positioned to implement more effective metaphors for describing student writers and their writing, and suggests action steps for instructors and administrators at Christian institutions that want to attract and retain a diverse student body and put into practice their academic missions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler-KassnerL. (2000, November). Review: Structure and possibility: New scholarship about students-called-basic-writers. College English, 63(2), 229–243.
2.
Adler-KassnerL.HarringtonS. (2002). Basic writing as a political act: Public conversations about writing and literacies. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
3.
AgnewL. (1998). Rhetorical style and the formation of character: Ciceronian ethos in Thomas Wilson's Arte of Rhetorique. Rhetoric Review, 17(1), 93–106.
BartholomaeD. (2005). Teaching basic writing: An alternative to basic skills. Writing on the margins: Essays on composition and teaching (pp. 157–176). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. (Reprinted from Journal of Basic Writing, 2[2], Spring/Summer 1979, pp. 85–91).
7.
BartlettT. (2003). Why Johnny can't write, even though he went to Princeton?The Chronicle of Higher Education, 49(17), A39. Retrieved May 22, 2007, from http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i17/17a03901.htm.
8.
BennettW. J. (1994). The devaluing of America: The fight for our culture and our childrenColorado Springs, CO: Focus on the Family Publications.
9.
BloomA. D. (1987). The closing of the American mind: How higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today's students. New York: Simon and Schuster.
10.
BloomL. Z. (1996). Freshman composition as a middle-class enterprise. College English, 58(6), 654–675.
11.
BloomL. Z. (2006). Good enough writing: What is good enough writing, anyway? In SullivanPTinbergH. B. (Eds.), What is “college-level” writing? (pp. 71–89). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
12.
CartwrightM. G. (2004) Moving beyond muddled missions and misleading metaphors: Formation and vocation of students within an ecclesially based university. In BuddeM. L.WrightJ. (Eds.), Conflicting allegiances: The church-based university in a liberal democratic society (pp. 185–216). Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.
13.
CCCC. (2004, June). CCCC Position statement on teaching, learning, and assessing writing in digital environments. College Composition and Communication, 55(4), 785–790.
ClouseR. G. (1997). Diversity, Christianity, and higher education. In GillD. W. (Ed.), Should God get tenure? Essays on religion and higher education (pp. 103–115). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Council of Writing Program Administrators. (2007). WPA network for media action. Retrieved October 7, 2007, from http://www.wpacouncil.org/nma.
19.
D'SouzaD. (1991). Illiberal education: The politics of race and sex on campus. New York: Free Press.
20.
DelpitL. (2001). The silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in educating other people's children. In HalasekK.HighbergN. P. (Eds.), Landmark essays on basic writing (Vol. 18, pp. 83–101). Mahwah, NJ: Hermagoras Press. (Reprinted from Harvard Educational Review, 58[3], 1988, pp. 280–298).
21.
DelpitL. (2006). Lessons from teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), 220–231.
22.
ElbowP. (1991). Reflections on academic discourse: How it relates to freshmen and colleagues. College English, 53(2), 135–155.
23.
FoxT. (1999). Defending access: A critique of standards in higher education. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers-Heinemann.
GlauG. R. (1998, April). The “Mainstreaming+” approach. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago.
27.
GlauG. R. (2002). Hard work and hard data: Using statistics to help your program. In BrownS. C.EnosT.ChaputC. (Eds.), The writing program administrator's resource (pp. 291–302). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
28.
GoldenJ. L.CorbettE. P. J. (1968). The rhetoric of Blair, Campbell, and Whately. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
29.
HughesR. T. (1997). Introduction. In HughesR. T.WilliamA. B. (Eds.), Models for Christian higher education: Strategies for survival and success in the twenty-first century (pp. 1–11). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
30.
JeneyC. J. (1996, March). Bringing them home: Stretch 101… A practical guide to the long haul. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, Milwaukee, WI. Retrieved March 3, 2007, from Eric database.
31.
LalickerW. B. (2004). A basic introduction to basic writing program structures: A baseline and five alternatives. In BernsteinS. N. (Ed.), Teaching developmental writing: Background readings (2nd ed., pp. 29–39). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
LuM. -Z. (1994). Redefining the legacy of Mina Shaughnessy. In TateG.CorbettE. P. J.MeyersN. (Eds.), The writing teacher's sourcebook (3rd ed., pp. 327–337). New York: Oxford University Press. (Reprinted from Journal of Basic Writing, 10[1], 1991).
34.
MacDonaldH. (1995, Summer). Why Johnny Can't Write. The Public Interest, 120, 3–11. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Proquest database.
MooreS. H. (2004). The humanities within an ecclesially based university: Return to reading the greats. In BuddeM. L.WrightJ. (Eds.), Conflicting allegiances: The church-based university in a liberal democratic society (pp. 140–155). Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.
37.
MouwR. J. (1997). Evangelical civility and the academic calling. In GillD. W. (Ed.), Should God get tenure? Essays on religion and higher education (pp. 116–128). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
ShaughnessyM. (1977). Errors and expectations: A guide for the teacher of basic writing. New York: Oxford University Press.
46.
ShaughnessyM. (1994). Diving in: An introduction to basic writing. In TateG.CorbettE. P. J.MyersN. (Eds.), The writing teacher's sourcebook (3rd ed., pp. 321–326). New York: Oxford University Press. (Reprinted from College Composition and Communication, 27, October 1976, pp. 234–239).
47.
ShaughnessyM. (2004). Some new approaches toward teaching. In BernsteinS. N. (Ed.), Teaching developmental writing: Background readings (2nd ed., pp. 2–13). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. (Reprinted from A Guide for Teachers of College English, 1970, and Journal of Basic Writing, 13[1], 1994).
48.
ShorI. (1997). Our apartheid: Writing instruction and inequality. Journal of Basic Writing, 16(1), 91–104.
49.
TintoV. (1999). Taking retention seriously: Rethinking the first year of college. NACADA Journal, 19(2), 5–9.
WillG. F. (1995, July 2). Teach Johnny to write. The Washington Post, C7. Retrieved from http://www.lexisnexis.com/.
53.
WillG. F. (1997). Multiculturalism as compulsory chapel. The woven figure: Conservatism and America's fabric, 1994–1997 (pp. 140–142). New York: Scribner.
54.
WilliamsJ. M.ColombG. G. (2007). Two metaphors for learning and the novice writer. In NorgaardR. (Ed.), Composing knowledge (pp. 216–229). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. (Reprinted from The craft of research, by ColombG. G.WilliamsJ. M., 1995, Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
