Blog #6: The infamously difficult first step towards writing a very difficult essay.

NOTE: Alright, so I tried to answer as many questions as possible, but I had trouble with question 4. Also, most of the facts in the first and second paragraphs are paraphrase/summary of the Gee article "Teenagers in new times: A new literacy studies perspective." Also, any of my lurking classmates and/or Dr. Chandler want to help me figure out how to use that statistics site, or even read it without going "Huh? what's "n" mean?" let alone find more information about socio-economic status about the students at Kean. All right, without former adeu, here's our show:

In an academic setting, students are required to write in a way that their professors will perceive as “scholarly.” In many cases, this includes analytical, complex, abstract and distanced arguments and statements. Students are expected, for the most part, to remove the self and emotion from any piece of writing that they submit. Colleges traditionally being the realm of the wealthy (or at least middle class), meaning that academic discourse most closely resembles the language used in an upper-middle or upper class home. This puts students from such backgrounds at a distinct advantage.

According to James Gee, working class students have a disadvantage in the way that they use language to relate to the world. Those that come from working-class backgrounds value the use of concrete, action-based, narrative-style language, and also base arguments on personal experience and feelings more often than factual evidence. This does not mean that they are less literate or cognitively capable then those from upper or middle class backgrounds. Nevertheless, they must train themselves to respond in a way that would be received favorably by an instructor if they intend to succeed.

Kean University has a large majority of students who receive financial aid, which makes it likely that problems associated with this class distinction will be present in the Kean University Writing Center. A problem that these students may face is a difficulty constructing arguments that make use of facts and sources in a beneficial way, as these students have not had sufficient experience with fact-based arguments.