Dear Teacher...

After getting past the academia jargon in the first few pages, I found the rest of the piece very interesting. The premise of reading an article based on basic writers was captivating from a teacher’s point of view. I was predicting how Brodkey would ascertain the discourse of basic writing. The basic question she posed on pg. 126 was “how to read what students write.” “Should teachers concentrate on form at the expense of content?” I have fought this contention for a long time. From the days in high school where Mr. Stahler would get out his red pen and rip apart my piece for what syntax he would prefer rather than look at the content would drive me crazy. It was as bad as my mother correcting my grammar as a child. Unfortunately, I do that with my students but never the red pen. At the 8th grade level, I want them to write better, but not at the expense of taking out the enthusiasm of writing. That’s how I felt when reading the “stories” of Don/Dora, Ellen/Pat and Rita/Esther. Instead of “Literacy Letters”, this should have been a study of ethnography and class distinction. The teachers in this scenario were placed on a economic scale that would deter the “students” from being comfortable in their own place. As I read this, I contemplated the question, “Why do teachers want to place themselves on a pedestal and not relinquish the power to the students?” Brodkey appears to see that point during the study, but never acknowledges that this division between the two groups is the problem with the “Literacy Letters.” Even the most confident writer Pat loses her confidence during the letter writing. The familiarity between the women was squashed when Ellen discusses her Mother’s Day plans. Brodkey states, “middle-class families do not ordinarily celebrate motherhood with consumption rituals.” With this statement, doesn’t Brodkey establish an economic difference between the women, thus enabling Ellen as the superior subject in the study? The studies relates more information to me about how a teacher needs teach basic writing based on a relationship with her students rather than the authority to empower her students. As Brodkey says, “To say no to writing is to say no to a difference that matter to those students…”

Then there is Lauer and Asher…ugh! I’m sorry, but my mind doesn’t work this way. I look at titles “Problems with subjects,” and I want to know how I can help them, not figure out the n to k ratio. I’m the person who can’t even use a calculator never mind reducing it to 5:1. It’s good to see that colleges and other institutions actually have some kind of mathematical formula to allow students into college classes based on their success on pre-testing. But of course, I look at the fact that student’s mature considerable from high school to college and the determination to succeed and get out of small towns out-weigh any test that can be given and classified.