Inventing the University

The phrase "Inventing the University" seems so ideological. I would love to invent my ideal university. To think about about the things that I think would really make a great learning environment. But, that's not what this post is about. This is about David Bartholomae's article. He feels like students must invent the university in order to write successfully-- but I don't think he's discussing invention. He wants students to figure out what his expectations are and then write to those.

Students are faced with a daunting task when they have to write qualifying exams in English. What qualifies someone to be a good writer? The problem is that I don't think many people think the same things qualify.

Bartholomae brings up several problems that occur in composition classrooms, but he doesn't necessarily provide solutions. I agree that audience and appropriation are problematic in a composition classroom; I'm just not sure how to solve those problems.