[Milton-L] Off topic of Milton but relevant to the larger discipline of English

[Thomas Luxon]

On Mar 27, 2008, at 11:26 AM, Robert Wiznura wrote:
> The new "proposal," which will come about no matter what I have to  
> say about it, will divide the course into two half year courses. The  
> first course will consist only of writing instruction while the  
> second half will consist of literature (but still will require 20%  
> writing instruction). I know that many out there already live within  
> this division and my question is simple: does such a division  
> actually improve the reading and writing skills of students?


My answer is no. For the life of me I can't figure out how one could  
teach students to read literature intelligently without concentrating  
on how they write. Students who know they are expected to write  
intelligently about what they read, read better. We should all be  
teaching writing, and teaching students to read each other's writing  
critically and intelligently in every course. I don't believe you can  
teach reading without writing or writing without reading.

Tom


Thomas H. Luxon
Cheheyl Professor and Director
Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning
Professor of English
Dartmouth College
6247 Baker-Berry
Hanover, NH 03755
thomas.h.luxon at dartmouth.edu
(603) 646-2655
Fax (603) 646-6906