Hull, Rose, Fraser, and Castellano’s case study with June’s classroom and Maria’s specific situation reminded me of related movie I watched again yesterday to think about comparisons in the English field, Stand and Deliver (1988) directed by Ramon Menendez. Especially towards the end of the article when the issues of race and social background were elaborated on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkPY_dP_aew

The movie is based loosely on a true story and it provides a glimpse into the educational struggle of Hispanic students in a low income High School. When compared to Maria’s case we can see some common ground as far as her ability to communicate coming under question. Of course it wasn’t nearly as bad as the scenario given to the viewer in Stand and Deliver but the parallels are there. In the clip I’ve linked we see a similar situation dealing with an educators perspective on student capability. Remedial course or not, we see students abilities being called into question and I think that’s the larger issue. Maria didn’t necessarily need to placed in a remedial course based on her level of understanding of the material. June was making assumptions about Maria’s cognitive ability just based on her speech. And even when her writing was examined, June was much too caught up in having her students go along with her plan on what the class should be doing as opposed to helping them become better writers. Just take a look at the transcript from her post class interview for a look into her thought process starting of page 314 (pg 16/32).

I have to wonder just how much June actually knew about Maria’s educational background at the time. Did she know Maria had been on the debate team to gain better speaking skills? Did she know about her bilingual upbringing. I can only assume so much, and I think that may be the problem itself. Remedial therapy was the ideal solution in both the film’s and June’s perspective. The conversation somehow devolves into what the educator perceives the students capabilities to be.

Look, I understand that if you find a method you think works then you’ll want to stick with it, especially when it comes to schoolwork. But that solution doesn’t always help a student grow as a person, let alone a mathematician or writer. I have this problem with older people who feel comfortable in their ways of life and don’t really consider changing their opinions, let alone growing as people. When you stop adapting, you stop growing as people. This might be too broad of a statement but I can’t help but think of that generalization especially when it comes to education.

First and foremost I’d like to mention that my inability to come up with something creative and presentable to bring to the table in our conversations irritates me. Nonetheless I still wish to contribute to the course through my writing, whether it’s my observations on certain topics discussed for specific critiques I have about a method we discuss. So while we’ve talked about frustrations with the subject matters outlined in Harris Muriel’s piece on the role of tutorship and how it relates to Engl 130 and section 30 specifically, I feel that we haven’t explored the portion of the class’ thoughts on the ESL center and how to compare that to what Harris is musing on.

So as of today September the 10th 2014, I just completed my first shift at the ESL center and encountered a myriad of students from different ethnic backgrounds, all of whom requested assistance in a different way. Daniella wanted me to check her draft of a research paper for errors in grammar and citation. Reda asked about whether his thesis on Steve Jobs’ success would be suited to a paper. and Kaliffah wanted help with reading an assignment and understanding it. In contrast to the large amounts of inaction or negativity we heard from students interning for Engl 30 sections, I was met with a small amount of motivated students of varying degrees of understanding of English who were taking extra time out of their day to go over their work in detail. They were all wonderfully receptive to what I had to say about their work and open minded about any suggestions I had for them on how to improve.

This experience I had was much more reflective of what Harris has to say about the role of outside class tutoring. “Writing centers do not and should not repeat the classroom experience and are not there to compensate for poor teaching, over-crowded classrooms, or lack of time for overburdened instructors to confer adequately with their students. Instead, writing centers provide another, very crucial aspect of what writers need-tutorial interaction.”(page 2 line 15) Immediately that sentiment resounds in my head with agreement. Outside of the ESL center I have been asked on many occasions by Japanese transfer students to look over their materials and essays for comprehensive purposes as well as tutorial or editing aspects. All of whom were just like the three students I met today, motivated to work and eager to learn. A trait that I haven’t really noticed in American college students on the GE level even I don’t really care for GE courses. But in the cases of students in Engl 30 and the visitors of the ESL Center, it’s clear that in some way they could use help with their writing an/or language skills.

We all agree that extra time is needed to assist students in their efforts to improve their writing or language skills, and we could even question whether the course material is suspect or even conducive to learning. What we cannot control however is an individuals willingness to comply or learn.

-Mitch Longerbone