Assumptions
Town and Gown Series, Spring
2003
Lead Instructor: Prof. Janet
Carey Eldred
As lead instructor for this course, I’ve made the
following assumptions:
You are a part of this university.
You have something—intellectually—to contribute. I look forward
to reading your work because I know I can learn from you—each and every one
of you.
You are already good writers—that’s how you got to U.K.! (Do you remember sitting for standardized
tests? Putting together your
admissions application? You jumped all
those hurdles! You passed all those tests!) You are here because you have the
potential to succeed.
Let’s define success in ENG 101 & 102: It’s not important that you be the best
writer who has ever graduated from U.K. (that’s a pretty darn elite
club with the likes of Wendell Berry and Bobbie Ann Mason, to name just
two). There’s a lot of room for people
who are just plain good, capable writers and researchers.
On the other hand, “good” here is relative. Employers expect to hire college graduates who
write and research “better than the average bear.” This means that you should learn something
in this course; it should be the beginning of your professional career. Yes, you can search the web or find sources
through InfoKat; most high school graduates can. Your research and composition skills must
be sharper.
Brilliant people aren’t always
the best students. I’ve met many a
brilliant student who just gets by; I’ve met a few who fail because they’ve
banked much much much too heavily on their brilliance. Employers are on to this. Brilliance is fine—if it’s combined with
passion for and dedication to the work at hand.
Your first and most important
job is your education. And here I’ll
preach: Invest in your future, not in stereos and compact discs and the
like. Cut up your credit cards, since
they will steal your most precious resource—your time (you’ve got to work to
pay them off.)
Instead, here’s the traditional “funding formula” for college: for every one hour in class, you can
expect to spend two hours outside of class. It’s a standard college
rule—and it works. Your ENG 102 instructor will often specify how to spend
that two hours preparation tume. Your
instructors in other courses might not—but you should still be making that investment.
Throw yourself into your course work. Make yourself find something to like in
every course, especially if you’re not immediately attracted to the subject
matter. Eventually, you’ll major, and
life will get easier because you’ll be pursuing what interests you. Most people do well when they like what
they’re doing, so the trick is to make every single course attractive in some
way.
Don’t rely on your instructors to create that interest or inspire that
passion—we don’t have good track records.
And for good reason. We might be able to pick a specific assignment
that fits Julie Jones perfectly, but what about the other 24 students in her
class? Trust yourself; you know what
interests you, what floats your boat.
In practical terms, imagine this difference in letters of
recommendation: “Martin shows up and
does what’s required” vs. “Martina is an engaged student who produces
excellent work.” Whom would you hire? Whom would you want working for you? Enthusiasm is contagious. Sleep, take vitamins, and work up some
enthusiasm for all of your classes (even math). Education is not
entertainment: It’s not your teacher’s
job to make you interested. Her job
(or his job) is to be interested in and passionate about teaching.
This is a huge part of your work in English 102, a huge part of writing
generally. In The Art of Creative Nonfiction, Lee Gutkind, a professional
writer, has this to say: “Learning how
to write is hard enough, but deciding what to write about . . . is the most
difficult task a writer must confront.”
As he explains, “The task is double-edged. . . . [S]ubjects are around
us everywhere; on the other hand, they are astoundingly elusive.” His advice?
“Find a subject that intrigues and motivates you and that will
simultaneously intrigue and motivate readers.” If you are bored by your own
work, just imagine what your readers will experience. . .
Get to know your instructors and classmates, have faith in your
intellectual abilities and the many gifts and talents your classmates bring,
and finally, enjoy the semester!
Contents
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Kentucky Writing Program-Town and
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