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- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!paladin.american.edu!auvm!PSUVM.BITNET!MLB14
- Message-ID: <MBU-L%93010114415990@TTUVM1.BITNET>
- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.mbu-l
- Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 15:41:00 EST
- Sender: "Megabyte University (Computers & Writing)" <MBU-L@TTUVM1.BITNET>
- From: MLB14@PSUVM.BITNET
- Subject: Re: Standardizing Composition Classes
- In-Reply-To: CROWLEY AT NAUVAX.BITNET -- Wed, 30 Dec 1992 08:46:25 -0700
- Lines: 25
-
- But Sharon, if I saw evidence in my classes evry day that students didn't
- know enough Chemistry to be able to do English competently, then I'd
- certainly complain long and loud. And the folks in Chemistry have to be
- very aware of what the folks in Math are doing--the folks in Chemistry, in
- fact, have to plan their curriculum and course offerings (and scheduling,
- too, on smaller campuses) around or with the folks in Math (and Physics and
- Biology).
-
- My point here is that what we do is central to the college curriculum;
- students are expected to learn by reading and writing. Yet, we have no
- communication and collaboration with other departments that comes close to
- rivalling what exists in the sciences. And I never hear Math department
- chairs complaining that they are nothing more than a service course to the
- University. Why can't we--and everyone else--acknowledge that what we do IS
- a vital service, and start figuring out how we can all coordinate our
- efforts? A physics prof would never assign problems requiring Calculus if
- the students couldn't have taken Calculus prior to that class; why don't
- Poli. Sci. profs refrain from assigning research papers until their
- students are beyond the English course that purports to teach them how to do
- research?
-
- Maybe we should listen to the squeaky wheels. At least they have enough
- interest and energy to gripe.
-
- Marcy Bauman Penn State-Erie
-