The Politics of Writing in the Two-Year College (Crosscurrents)

This book brings together the voices of practitioners who are too often silent in the debate over what "writing requirement" stands for in postsecondary education: instructors who teach in the two-year colleges. Unlike other collections, which have been largely uncritical of the role two-year colleges play, this one takes the "open door" and "teacher-centered" assumptions to task. By providing critical insight into the way composition is situated and practiced in the two-year colleges, the editors hope to promote a broader discussion about what kind of literacy is being promoted.

The Politics of Writing in the Two-Year College addresses issues that two-year faculty have identified as critical to their practice and institutional position. You'll read about the overuse of part-time instructors in writing courses, the role that textbook publisher mergers play in the writing curriculum, the myth of technical writing for underprepared writers, and the way technology changes the writing classroom. Although there is no "party line" that ties these essays together, they all help define the specific material and social conditions that make composition in the two-year colleges unique and problematic.