Last updated on November 26, 2023
Podcast Episode 0026; Season 02, Episode 12; January 22, 2019
Daniel Sansing discusses his interest in writing and communication theories. Sansing studies academic composition and teaching composition courses. The myth that autistics are only concrete thinkers dismisses the uniqueness of individuals. Yes, some of us are concrete thinkers… and we can still study theories, too.
Among my fields of study are rhetoric and writing, but not first-year college composition, which is a course designed to help students transition into higher education.
Writing Classes and Gatekeeping
I’m uncomfortable with general electives serving as “gatekeepers” that determine which students can, or cannot, advance towards courses within their desired majors. Though I wish everyone had the opportunity and the desire to complete a well-rounded traditional liberal arts education, that simply is not the case. Students seeking liberal arts programs select liberal arts colleges.
Colleagues have argued that everyone needs to be able to write well. Plus, composition courses teach critical thinking skills with value beyond academic writing.
I’m not certain that’s true. In part, because so many college composition courses are literature courses in disguise. Or, they are something entirely different, focused on the interests and agendas of the instructors.
Students with learning disabilities and cognitive differences suffer in college writing courses. How many brilliant students do we penalize because they struggle with a skill that might never be significant within their careers?
I’d love everyone to learn a bit about everything, but I never want someone to be forced out of a career path because a single course blocked that student’s ambitions.
Transcript
In progress…
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