Revisiting "the idea of a writing center"

Revisiting "the idea of a writing center"

by Stephen North from The Writing center journal, vol 15, number 1, fall 1994 Four problems with his old piece: A. His description of the writer's motivation is naive. It isn't that writers aren't motivated, it is that they are not motivated to be great writers. They want great writing. B. the metaphor of tutor as participant observer is naive. Tutors can't drop their culture or pretend it doesn't exist. They can't simply join the writer in his/her process. They are working in a center, which in itself is a violation/transformation of that process. C. Our special perspective makes the injunction to never criticize a teacher or an assignment a little extreme. there are bad teachers and bad assignments, and being upfront about that fact can be helpful to tutor morale. This passage places a high burden on tutors D. The idea of making the center be the writing CENTER on campus is naive. Large campuses cannot possibly do that. There is too much change for him to predict the future of writing centers. His college is moving toward writing tracks in the English major. This will bring the self-motivated writers to the center. This will encourage long-term relationships. 3. Talk with teachers will be required.