The comments on this are already telling. Because they perceive FYC as not properly preparing students for their specific course, FYC is therefore defective. Lots of work to do to bridge these gaps. insidehighered.com/blogs/just-vis…
I'm the first to examine and even criticize some FYC practices, particularly approaches which are primarily prescriptive and designed to get students through "school," but the gap between what faculty outside writing expect from FYC and what FYC can reasonably deliver is huge.
I have no doubt that this gap (what FYC can do v. what other fac. imagine) plays a big role in the underresourcing of FYC. So many have decided that it's not a worthwhile course in and of itself, the fact that it's taught be contingent faculty with 2nd class status makes sense.
If it's a bad class, and destined to be a bad class, why would we pump more resources into it. Sure, you gotta have FYC because it's "required" but that doesn't mean anyone should really care about it. Tell me this attitude isn't apparent in the comments in post linked at the top
The disconnect drives me bonkers. Writing and critical thinking are supposedly two of the most important skills higher education is meant to foster, and yet a course designed explicitly around those skills is largely neglected, scorned, and looked down upon by others.
I have seen students transform their lives through engaging with the problems of an FYC course, where they first recognized themselves as capable people with a point of view and the tools to express themselves. I teach the course as a source of empowerment and personal liberation
I have a book coming out designed around the kinds of experiences that I think can help lead to that empowerment. The student has to seize the opportunity, but the opportunity is there. amazon.com/Writers-Practi…
To see the way FYC is dismissed and demeaned is infuriating, but unsurprising. Every place I've worked when I've said that I teach FYC, I've been looked on by those outside writing with pity, sometimes even by those inside English as well.
FYC is the class more students will take than any other. If institutions were concerned about learning, about retention, about intellectual development, it would be showered with the necessary resources. Instead, neglect.
Here's a study. Measure the difference in retention between students in FYC courses taught be qualified faculty making decent wage with sections no greater than 15 with nor more than 3 sections per semester, v. the typical load for a FYC instructor (often more than double that).
