When we criticized the University’s implementation of WRIT 111, an introductory writing course, in a Fall 2008 editorial, we did so because we believed the class was based on faulty premises: that the University could shape less than stellar writers with a one semester class that would be taught, with little passion, by professors and teaching assistants with little control over their curriculum.
We did not foresee WRIT 111 becoming a burden for nearly 1,000 students in the English department who now find themselves unable to register for classes they need to complete their degree because the number of spaces available in those classes has been greatly reduced. Sure, budget cuts are a factor in the reduction of class sizes, but the real problem here is WRIT 111, which is sapping teaching assistants who previously taught the now downsized classes.
The University is outwardly displaying a general lack of foresight and a specific disregard for the English department, neither of which are exactly new qualities. Last spring, Pipe Dream detailed the unfair loads being placed on TA’s in the department.
It’s ironic, though, that in an effort to make writing courses available to everyone, some of the students who are most committed to the art of the scribe—English majors—are finding themselves unable to take classes that the University itself holds as necessary to be granted a degree.
The English Department is essentially being sacrificed for some perceived benefit to the entire school, a benefit we maintain will be minimal at best. It should be difficult for the administration to explain to a student whose roadmap to graduation is now thrown off why exactly it is that their worth is being minimized.
Substitute classes may become available, but how effective could they possibly be? The large lectures on essential subject matter, even if their size does allow some students to get lost in the crowd, are mostly taught by professors who are experienced and knowledgeable. Environments like those can’t be replicated by creating a course on the fly that bears a similar title and catalog number.
Quickly, WRIT 111 has proven to be nothing but a woeful venture.