After reading the Portfolio Guide I am aware of what is expected of my writing. The whole purpose of the portfolio is to determine if the writer can write with critical understanding. It deems whether we can express complex ideas or feelings in a readable form to an academic audience. It also asks that we know the difference in many styles of writing i.e. persuasive versus reflective papers. Included in the portfolio is a cover letter, it is supposed to be a written explanation of how the writer has grown and developed. Using examples out of the submitted paper, the writer must prove his or her strengths and how they were used. Bottom line, the student is supposed to pass a set standard of writing skill to move on in academic classes.
It was stated in the fifth paragraph of the Portfolio Guide, "The portfolio system enables your teacher to be a coach and editor rather than simply a judge. Rather than debate grades, instructors and students create responses to writing, thereby establishing a collaborative writing environment rather than a competitive classroom environment." If the teacher is not a standard, then the portfolio committee is. This has raised the question of what is beyond the standard of the portfolio committee? Once a student passes the committee's standards of writing are there others that we are not told about? Or does standard after that point come down to personal opinion?
Let's say that a person has passed the portfolio committee and is continuing to write for academia. If his written material is turned into a professor with certain views about writing, the student could be docked points. If the written material is publicized people choose to base worthiness on the subject and if the writing is easy to follow. In either case, the writing standard vary from reader to reader and personal opinion becomes the driving force for "good writing."
This raises the idea that one would be distracted from the real purpose of writing, to state an idea or emotion, because of the reader doesn't agree on how it was written. The whole purpose for the paper is gone. Instead I suggest that a new standard is applied even after the portfolio committee, in doing so it would create a standard that all can agree on and focus on the idea, the whole purpose of writing.
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Good post, Stephen. I like how you summed up the reading very concisely before asking questions about it that led to your critique.
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder if the "real purpose of writing" is always "to state an idea or an emotion."
In academia in particular, the purpose of writing is two-fold: writing to learn and writing to demonstrate what has been learned.
In making rhetorical choices (in choosing how to frame your ideas), it is essential to consider the purpose. A professor will usually be quite clear about that purpose in the assignment, but when in doubt you can always ask.
Analytical writing is very often an exercise in writing to learn; in other words, new connections and insights reveal themselves to you while you are writing.
So, often it is the process and not the product that matters in the long run. The final product demonstrates this learning, while the process allows you to make connections between material you learn in class and your own ideas/experiences.