"I want you to write this paper alone."

By
Something that I've never witnessed before took place not more than two feet from me. A student came in and told their tutor (not me, obviously) that she cancelled her appointment because her professor told her that she could not work on her paper with anyone, including the Writing Center. Are we not here to help?

This begs the question, do we ignore the professor and assist anyway? I say we do but I find it disheartening to know there may be a professor at your University that discourages students seeking help. We are not here as answer books but as collaborators. We collaborate everyday with different people and every student that we encounter is looking for some kind of guidance. I also can't help but wonder what might happen to this student after their paper is turned in and by some unfortunate circumstance the Professor becomes aware of her sessions with us. Is it fair to deny a student this service that the University pays us for? Or is it unfair of the student to go against explicit instructions by the Professor? I've always wanted to do things when people tell me not to anyway so I would probably go against them but when it comes to grades, one is always a little cautious.

Have any of you faced this kind of unappreciation from your University?

Comments

  1. Anonymous2:19 PM

    I have only ever come across this situation once in my time at the writing center. At our university we offer a developmental writing class which some students have to take before entering Composition I. For this class alone, the tutors are instructed not to look over the first draft of the paper. In this class, for each paper, students have a one-on-one meeting with the instructor where his/her largest mistakes are addressed. The reasoning behind this is so the instructor can truly see the students' writing abilities.

    So to answer your question, I would try to find out why the instructor has told that student to write the paper alone. Maybe this student has dependency issues or it is more of an assessment of skill.

    Hopefully this helps!!
    Ali Leugoud
    University of Central Missouri

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:07 AM

    I worked with a student a couple of years ago who actually was later referred by her professor to the campus judiciary board (for cheating) because she sought help from the writing center when she'd been told not to--there was a warning against this on her take-home exam assignment sheet, but she hadn't shown me that page and hadn't even read that part of the instructions. Based on that experience, I'd be VERY hesitant to work with a writer against the professor's instructions because the writer could potentially get into serious trouble. Sometimes, though, when profs tell students they can't get "any" help with their paper, maybe they aren't thinking about help from the writing center, which they might actually allow. Usually when I see a situation like this, I encourage the student to check with the prof first.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown11:52 AM

    We did check to make sure that it wasn't a take home test because we also have policies against that and didn't want her to get into trouble. I can see how some students would purposefully leave the take home test part out though. Very sneaky students.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IWCA Forum: Peer Tutor => What do we call ourselves: the poll!

By
I have posted a poll in the IWCA forums: IWCA Forum: Peer Tutor => What do we call ourselves: the poll! It is a part of an earlier discussion that kind of petered out about the titles used for writing center workers. Please take a moment and vote! If you don't have an account on the forum, you can register for one by clicking on the "Register" link (next to the rocket icon in the top-right of the page.) Don't forget to state your institutional affiliation when you request and account. (That's how the IWCA Forum keeps out spam accounts.)
Read more

Are we aiding and abetting fraud?

By digigraf
So, I was driving to school today and as always was listening to NPR (that's my self-promoting conversational piece informing you on how intelligent and connected I am) really, I just like the coverage on the campaign and "This American Life." Okay, I am already getting off topic and I haven't even gotten on topic yet. Anyhow, the story I was listening to was about a woman who used to be a part of the admissions committee at Dartmouth and is now working as an independent consultant helping students with the admissions process for schools. For a cool $40,000, she will work with you from 9th grade to graduation to help prepare you for your college admissions process. And for the budget price of $14,000, she will help you write and revise your college application essay. So, how in the world does this correlate to our world? Well, her work with college applications includes helping students decide on effective topics (staying away from "teen angst, or th...
Read more

The Importance of Being Both A Tutor And A Learner

By
As a frightened freshman, I wandered deep in the bowels of the library basement. My eyes darted from room number to room number, looking for the aid my professor promised I could find. At the end of the hall, a golden light shone from an open doorway. My approach was slow and I lingered on the threshold. All uncertainty vanished when I was greeted with a smile and welcomed into the new world of the Tutoring Center. At the time, I did not know I would spend most of my weekdays in that room as a senior or how mundane this new world would become. How could I? I didn’t even know how much insight I would receive from my tutor that day! Being a learner in the writing center is a wholly different experience than being a tutor, yet I know many of my colleagues have not had the same learning experiences that I have. I think this is unfortunate because there is much that a tutor can gain from being a learner. It was my freshman year of college and everything was new. For me, that meant that fear...
Read more