Lately, I've been looking into the traditional freshman composition class--what it's original purpose was and whether it's still fulfilling that purpose. Many students abhor academic writing or have odd ideas about it (as comically evinced in the comic above). As for composition class, teachers and students alike question whether it is too formulaic or too abstract and inapplicable to other disciplines and life. However, as it is a requirement in nearly every college, we can't seem to do away with it, and many do argue for its continued existence. (And here I shall break form and leave out my thesis--one of those "artificial" impositions of composition's traditional "five-paragraph essay"--choosing instead to explore the topic before stating my main idea.)
It seems, just before the turn of the century, colleges found that students weren't prepared for writing at college level--and in the 1800s, college classes were heavily language-based (Greek, Latin, English, etc.), so this was a huge problem. Thus, as a stop-gap measure until high schools could improve, they introduced a rhetoric/composition course that could train students to write with the logic, organization, style, and good grammar that they expected. Unfortunately, high schools never have closed the gap, and more and more unrealistic pressure has been put on this single course to shape students up for the rest of their college classes. Over the years, opponents of composition have gone back and forth between seeking to reform the class or seeking to abolish the class, sometimes by proposing higher entrance standards, which the current learning disability community would certainly decry. Other campaigns like Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Across the Disciplines have urged for writing instruction and practice in all classes. Still others have suggested, instead, a seminars class that would rely heavily on writing but focus on various topics or issues, from which students could choose one that interested them.
In practice, the usefulness of the traditional composition class depends heavily on various factors--among them, the teacher and curriculum, as well as the student's prior knowledge of writing, respect for the teacher, openness to ideas, and work ethic. My own honor's composition served me fairly well, I think, in introducing me to various kinds of readings and thoughts, and giving me greater practice and structure for my essays--but then, I have always liked writing, so I have no reason to assume this is the norm. Later, I taught writing for GED students and three classes of Basic English--remedial composition for college students. I was amazed by the students' ignorance of matters I considered elementary: when to break paragraphs, what to capitalize, what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, how to introduce an idea . . . how to make sense. And while my (questionable) teaching could easily either help or hinder their learning process, I found that students' diligence affected their performance far more.
My own tentative conclusion is that a well-developed and well-taught composition course can prepare students for the general college experience, showing them how to think deeply and to organize and express their thoughts, which is useful for verbal and non-verbal communication in school, at work, and in personal relationships. Furthermore, the practice of concentrating on complex material, comprehending and analyzing it, and communicating new thoughts helps students deal with any intellectual challenge more comprehensively and creatively; it develops critical thinking skills they can transfer to any field of study or profession. The system is not without its problems, however, and I believe that it can be improved first by requiring high schools to raise their expectations before allowing their students to graduate. Next, composition--in whatever form it retains--should involve non-literary reading and writing, and focus more on thinking and organizing ideas (logical writing) than on faultless grammar, which I believe is the domain of high schools, not colleges. But how shall this become reality? That's an issue for another day.
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