Profs Should Teach Writing—Not Activism

Professor Stanley Fish is known as a liberal, even as a radical literary academic, but he wrote some very sensible things in a recent article in the New York Times. Fish now argues that something must be done about the poor writing skills of college students. He says that most composition classes spend most of the time emphasizing politics and ideology, and universities should rethink how the courses are structured.

Professor Fish says that a few years ago, he became alarmed and curious about the poor writing skills used by his English graduate students in their research papers. Fish thinks that graduate students should write well, since they are responsible for teaching undergraduate students how to write in freshman composition classes. When he investigated this problem, Fish looked at the lesson plans for 104 sections in which graduate students teach composition to undergraduates. He found that in 100 of the 104 sections, “students spent much of their time discussing novels, movies, TV shows and essays on a variety of hot-button issues—racism, sexism, immigration, globalization.” Only four sections emphasized grammar, rhetoric, and the craft of writing well.

Professor Fish wrote, “As I learned more about the world of composition studies I came to the conclusion that unless writing courses focus exclusively on writing they are a sham.” Fish summed up his main argument like this: “Don’t slight the core of the discipline.” Students who don’t write well are not going to write any better after taking a so-called “composition” class that neglects grammar, style, and clarity and instead concentrates on things like multiculturalism and social justice.

Well, good for Stanley Fish. I'm glad that a liberal professor has discovered the truth of what many of us have been saying for years.

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