"On the Academic Margins" Response

I think that this piece clearly implies that “basic writers” are writers who are not particularly skilled in producing written academic discourse. Thus, basic writing pedagogy seems to be something that seeks to ameliorate such academic writing deficiencies. As a successful producer (and soon to be teacher) of academic discourse, I very much agree with the goals of this pedagogy. However, I see a major problem, or perhaps it is not a problem depending on where it is one stands in our socioeconomic hierarchy. The problem is that basic writing pedagogy seems to associate academic discourse with having one correct method. Again, this is not necessarily bad because having one correct way makes universalization of written communication within the classroom possible. But if we are training students to write in the universalized (albeit, universal only within the different disciplines) manner, we are ignoring the ways in which they are expert writers (or possibly amateur but certainly better than basic writers). Perhaps a student is an expert at writing comic books or at writing manuals or at writing rap music. If we abandon these other ways of writing within the academic setting, are we submitting the students own histories, cultures, and discourses to erasure within the classroom? I do not suggest that there is an easy solution to this. I am simply making audible a deficiency within this pedagogical practice. Only further studies and scholarship and practice will be able to offer specific solutions or compromises.

I think I should add a short addendum. The above was written right before I read the section titled, “The Politics of Basic Writing: Social Reproduction, Social Location.” This section seemed to offer a response to all that was said above. So basically, the above is wasted text, but it was still my response to the reading. At least I thought about those issues like the scholars before me, which tells me that I beginning to make strides in the proper direction of examining pedagogy critically so that it can be bettered.