Teaching Writing in Open Admissions
“Teaching Language in Open Admissions” by Adrienne
Rich is one of my favorite essays that I have read this semester. Her essay is even more relevant today because
college administrators and politicians are coming up with ways to limit access
to students who are underprepared for college.
As I read these essays, I ask myself:
Who is the next Mina Shaughnessy, Adrienne Rich, and Audre Lorde? Granted it is a different time, but a lot of
what they fought for still needs a champion.
The more I read about them the more that I wish that I could have met
them. They all have certainly created a
legacy for themselves, and I am so honored to be a student at The City College
of New York where they fought for access for underprivileged students.
Rich writes, “I think of myself as a teacher of
language; that is, someone for whom language has implied freedom, who is trying
to aid others to free themselves through the written word, and above all
through learning to write it for themselves” (Bernstein 23). In a time of increasing police brutality,
income inequality and budget cuts, it is even more imperative that English
language teachers aid others in freeing themselves through words.
I am struck by how politically
charged and racially tinged the reaction to open admissions was at The City
College of New York. Yet, even today, I
can see how students who are underprepared for college through no fault of
their own are often stigmatized and in some instances seen as lost cases. One thing I know for sure is that the teaching of basic writing is
as a form or resistance to those who would have some people in our society
remain as part of a permanent underclass. It is an uncomfortable
conversation to have, but we as a society are going to have to decide if we are
going to give people a hand-up (not
a handout) so that they can make the most of their lives. Our democracy
depends on each of us having equality opportunity--even for those of us who
start from behind.
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