What is good writing?
I’ll let you mull that over for a second.
That question has always tormented teachers of writing. But
now, with the advent of the Internet, blogs, Tumblr (I would have loved to hear
Socrates’ opinion on that one), that debate has intensified. So many professors
ruminate over gems such as, “Why do we teach writing? Does good writing create
good citizens? Do we teach writing so that students can enter the workplace
armed with grammar and sentence structure? Can kids these days write at all?"
First of all, take a deep breath. Did you do it? Good. This
generation is still quite young and pretty darn innovative. Calm yourselves.
Now, remember why you love writing. Not about your syllabi,
or that article that you assigned. The beauty of writing. The way you feel
putting all of your thoughts/emotions/miscellaneous musings on paper, no matter
how difficult it may be.
That said, there are quite a few problems and questions with the
teaching of writing today. I cannot offer concrete answers to each
hyper-concerned professor. But I hope to further de-clutter
the writer’s conscience. Then maybe I can enlighten a teacher or two. Step back
from the politics, the business world and egos and wonder a little
more. At writing as an art, and of course at the students themselves.
Now please recall why you love writing. The issue is that
with all of the politics and economics and debate about writing, writing has
become less of an art and more of a chore. A checkbox.
I’m going to try not to take sides in this fierce (and
slightly exaggerated—boy, it’s a bit sad how intense it is) debate, and I’m
certainly not going to pretend to persuade. I’m going to analyze writing itself a bit.
Writing and
Capitalism
“I am a good writer. I utilize excellent grammar. I can
compose effectively in various formats and genres.”
These have become a part of a person’s brand, their
marketable skills presented in a neat package for potential employers and professors. Trying to meld the capitalist-fueled, practical side of writing
with the beauty and bubbling and frothing is exhausting!
Honestly, the whole idea of writing linking to citizenship
makes literacy, which should be enjoyable, into a political chore. Citizenship
is a duty bestowed upon us by others. Implying that good writing creates "good
citizenship," when not defined, also implies that these “citizen writers” owe
allegiance to some higher government or virtue.
Is that “good writing”? Matching the writing style to the
agenda and the audience? That attitude disservices the writers and those who
read it.
Writing well is a freedom,
not an obligation. I think a lot of people could relate to this sensation: I
love something interesting, maybe painting or pandas, and I have a perspective
that I wish to share. But when I want to put that on paper… nothing happens.
There’s some confusion between the brain and the paper/screen. I’ve received so
many complicated agendas and methodologies that I forget how to just write!
While we’re tossing around phrases like “citizen writers”
(am I the only individual that winces a bit there?) and the importance of
citizenship in the context of writing instruction, we should be cautious of what sort of
writers that creates, not what sort of citizen. I think that Fish would agree
with me on this one: writing teachers should teach writing, not civic
responsibility.
Citizenship implies writing for the sake of social
responsibility. While that’s all well and good, it takes away the purity of
writing for its own sake. Not all writing should be artistically correct
Socratic arguments—how boring would that be?
And isn’t a generation of boring writers worse than “bad” writers? Perhaps that’s
my prerogative, not yours.
Glossing over
invention
Writing is supposed to be enjoyable, freeing, communicative…
so why is it becoming an aggravating, politically charged bore? Teachers and
professors of writing fret over the result while they gloss over the enjoyment!
The invention! As Stephen Fry describes, the bubbling and frothing of language
for language’s sake!
(Also, there's a wonderfully creative video of these essay "performed" via kinetic typography here. It's worth a view.)
That creative invention has been ignored in favor of standardization
and personal branding in the business world and the academic world. We’ve
mastered format without invention. It’s like making pies without the
filling—tasteless, thin, crumbly.
Between this implied “obligation” which we are being taught
and the mechanics that we supposedly don’t understand, no wonder students are
having trouble writing. People teach writing or encourage writers based on
their own agendas instead of writing as simply an art.
I definitely don’t agree we students “cannot write”, if only
for the fact that our generation is too young and unorthodox to say for
certain. Oh, and for some reason the more senior generation almost always
maligns the younger ones. Seriously. Even Socrates whined about the youngsters of
his day. But today we’re faced with a generation of unwilling writers. Somehow
the pressure to contribute something meaningful has multiplied (just because we
can write, doesn’t mean everyone should), but along the way the beauty of
the process has been murdered.
Yes, writing requires study and practice, but only so much! I’m
frankly exhausted of all of the talk of what writing should be. Writing is art! Not a skill acquired for citizenship or
careers or tests or a politically correct curriculum vitae or any other nonsense.
We’ve forgotten that. By we, I’m referring to hundreds of thousands of college
students who, even if they love writing, have learned to hate and avoid it. I
love writing—but every time I have to write a paper, it’s a torturous process.
Every article, every essay. As soon as it’s assigned a purpose or a grade, I
dread it.
I find that far more alarming than any other phenomenon. I think you “guardians of language”, as Fry puts it, should be alarmed as well.
Good writing is a chore, an obligation, a grade, a resume builder? Is this the
mindset we have been taught?
Writing for writing’s
sake
Business proposal, lab reports and research project have
practical purposes of course. But prolific writing doesn’t need to have a
greater purpose but to be. It’s this joy and this pure freedom that seems to
have dissipated.
In researching this, I came across a dusty old phrase that,
in all my years of "writing education," I never learned. Belle letres, literally
meaning “beautiful letters.” It’s writing as an end to itself and not for
practical or informative purposes. Art for art's sake.
Why have I never learned this? Because I’ve constantly obsessed
about product over process, purpose over poetry. I freeze when I writing that
article or novel because I’ve never been taught to just write.
What’s the point of forcing students for a dozen or so years
to conform their writing to the conventions of communities that they have no
desire to join? Most people will probably not become professors of literature
or writing. Sorry.
Blank remarks that current trends in writing allow the mediocre to gain a competitive edge. (Saying that practically makes me twitch) Well, to borrow one of Fry’s phrases, sod them to Hades! An ordinary person can still create beauty and art—one need not be brilliant to create art for art’s sake. It’s those cynical schools of thought that scare good writers away. What kind of writers do we honestly expect to create with these methods?
Blank remarks that current trends in writing allow the mediocre to gain a competitive edge. (Saying that practically makes me twitch) Well, to borrow one of Fry’s phrases, sod them to Hades! An ordinary person can still create beauty and art—one need not be brilliant to create art for art’s sake. It’s those cynical schools of thought that scare good writers away. What kind of writers do we honestly expect to create with these methods?
This debate centers on the idea that writing should always
perform a higher purpose, whether practical or virtuous. But that only
perpetuates ideas of the present! Writing for writing’s sake creates. And yes,
that’s the extent of that sentence. It creates.
This generation of taught-to-the-standard students invents
their own belle letres. They communicate their passions and experiences through
inimitable and slightly unorthodox styles that should be celebrated, not condemned
for breaking the norm.
I guess it depends on what sort of guardian you wish to become
for the craft of writing. All I can ask is that professors support student
writers instead of belittling them, please.
Then they will feel that urge to create and write. And please, for all our
sakes, stop belaboring your own agendas for an end result.
