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Courses focus on writing
Writing skills key to clear thinking
By Mama Broekhoff
Of ttt* EmaraM
“No person can be called
educated who cannot write,"
says Robert Berdahl, dean of
the University College of Arts
and Sciences. "In fact, the
ability to write coherently, along
with its prerequiste abilities, to
read critically and to think
clearly, should be the primary
focus of a liberal arts educa
tion ”
Albert Kitzhaber, University
professor Emeritus of English
and past president of the Na
tional Council of Teachers of
English, agrees "Writing is the
most complex skill human be
ings have,” he says, "and the
process makes one’s whole
personality come to a focus at
the fingertips.”
"Writing is also per
haps the most neces
sary survival skill in all
areas of the profes
sional world,” Berdahl
says, including educa
tion, business, the
technology, law and
medicine. Few would
deny that writing ability
is the key to academic
success.
"We get calls all the -
time from companies who want
to improve their employees'
writing," according to Kathleen
Dubs, director of composition in
the English department. She
quotes figures to show that for
training in writing, business
normally outspends higher
education by a margin of five to
one.
Nevertheless the media tell us
we are in the midst of a national
"literacy crisis," in which the
majority of Americans simply
cannot write clear, usable,
everyday prose This crisis ex
tends to all ages and all levels. It
is now common knowledge that
the vast majority of high school
seniors score below the mid
point on the verbal Scholastic
Aptitude Test. Last year one
major corporation estimated
that it lost a million dollars
simply because of inefficient,
incoherent, and useless writing.
‘ All employees complain
about the lack of literacy," Ber
dahl says. "It's a tremendous
problem." Dubs predicts that
the crisis will continue as long
as we allow it to continue. "We
would never tolerate having a
student tell us that two plus two
equals five. Why do we tolerate
unreadable prose?"
Writing skills have always
been emphasized at the Univer
sity, and over the past several
years the University has been
responding to the literary crisis
in an aggressive and systematic
way.
“There is continuing concern
all over the University with writ
ing ability," says Glen Love,
former director of composition
and chief author of the writing
curriculum for the federally
funded Project English Stod
dard Malarkey, also a former
composition director and auth
or and editor of books on prose
style, maintains that "teaching
precise use of the written word
is the most important function of
the English department and
really what the humanities are
all about. ” The battle for literacy
at the University is being waged
on three fronts: course variety,
teacher training, and writing re
‘If you go back 50 or 100
years,’ Kltzhaber says,
‘you’ll find people always
thought writing was in a
state of decay.’
search.
The University offers a variety
of courses for a variety of
clientele that few other
institutions can match. Each
term the English department
teaches hundreds of classes in
composition, two of which are
required for graduation. Other
than a course in health educa
tion, writing is the only Univer
sity subject required of all
students. Many departments
would double the writing
requirement if staff funding
were available, Dubs says.
In the regular program,
students learn basic techniques
of formulating a thesis,
developing ideas and doing re
search. For the 150
academically talented students
in the University Honors Col
lege. writing instruction is inte
grated with the rest of their cur
riculum. In the Honors College’s
"writing-across-the-cur
riculum" project. which
received federal funding last
fall, professors in other
disciplines are trained to teach
writing.
At the other end of the spec
trum, students needing to work
intensively on their writing skills
can enroll In several different
developmental courses These
courses are entirely self-sup
porting and do not provide
UofO
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graduation credit. Additionally,
students at any level who are
concerned about their writing
can receive tutorial help from
specially trained teachers in the
writing lab at the Learning Re
sources Center. According to
Susan Lesyk, assisitant director
at the Center, about 300
students use the lab regularly,
but many more come in for help
with special projects, such as
with job applications or
graduate theses.
About a quarter of the lab's
visitors are from the University’s
foreign student population,
which now numbers over 1000
from 72 different countries. Fo
reign students may also enroll in
the English department's year
long writing sequence, English
as a Second Language This
prepares them for the
regular freshman-level
courses. Several sec
tions of these regular
level courses are re
served for foreign
students and other
minorities. The linguis
tics department is also
developing ESL
courses with the help
of the American Eng
lish Institute.
To train profession
als who must write frequently,
the English department offers
scientific and technical writing,
and business communications,
on both the undergraduate and
graduate levels. To train
professional writers, the
department offers more than 20
advanced courses in nonfiction,
short story, novel, drama, and
poetry. It also offers the M F A
degree in imaginative writing.
Writing instruction at the
University is outstanding not
only because of such quantity,
but also because of it quality. All
teachers in the the writing pro
grams have master's degrees;
many also have doctorates.
Graduate students in English
teach writing sections only after
they complete a term-long
workshop in college composi
tion and then serve a one-term
teaching apprenticeship The
department also provides
weekly colloquia on composi
tion teaching for all interested
staff members Each teacher's
performance is reviewed an
nually by members of the Com
position Committee Such
strong commitment and profes
sionalism are reflected in the
extremely high evaluation writ
ing teachers regularly receive
from their students — among the
highest in the University.
Continued on Page 22
Are you a
UNITARIAN
WlltHMrt knowing It?
Do you believe that neither prophet nor
prteet can do your thinking tor you?
Do you believe people are capable of
aelf improvement and are not
condemned by the doctrine ol original
am"?
Do you believe that driving to live a
wholesome life « more important than
accepting religious creeds?
Then you are
protesting
Unitarian battels
Unttarten Ctwrch of Eugene
477 East 4Mi Avenue
US-2779
IfeMAJL