Back when I attended community college, I had a wonderful old woman as an English professor. She was well into her 80’s but was a tough cookie and made sure she showed us all that she had no intention of retiring any time soon. She was very wise and extremely passionate not only about the literature she taught, but how students wrote about the literature. Her yearning to have students write well did not stop in her classroom though. She was wise enough to realize that proper writing, even informal writing, was an important task for anyone to learn. She told me a story about the importance of being able to write well and how it is such an important skill that is all too often overlooked for non-English majors.
In the 1960’s, the professor’s husband had left her, leaving her as a single mother with three children and no child support. Her job as a teacher wasn’t paying the bills, so she decided to look for extra work in the evenings. She advertised herself as a writing tutor on a bulletin board in a local hospital. To her surprise, the calls starting coming so fast that face-to-face tutoring was no longer an option; she would need to have a class. And who was making these calls you ask? The doctors at the hospital!
Having spent their university careers in focusing on the medical field, doctors often miss out on the opportunity to learn how to write properly and effectively. People’s lives depend on the doctor’s direction and instruction and a simple error within their writing could be misinterpreted resulting in a dire situation. Thankfully, the doctors who met with my professor took the steps to improve their writing as did many more after them. She held her evening group sessions at the hospital for many years until she no longer needed the extra income.
When we think of writing, we tend to thing of the usual suspects: novels, articles, papers, and journals. But as stated in the blog, Writing in the Work World, today’s technology results in people from all career paths writing more than ever before using other means such as email and social media to express themselves. In another blog, Everyday Writing: Words Matter More Than Ever in 21st Century Workplace, stats show that the average person spends up to four hours a day writing in some way, shape or form, whether it be through emails, text messages, or their favorite social media platform. What we would consider proper writing is now getting lost in quick responses or ten 2-line back and forth chats instead of a five page letter. As educators it is important to keep this all in mind when teaching our students to write. Yes, we want them to be able to write a scholarly article, but we also want them to be able to communicate with employees, co-workers, friends and family in an efficient manner through email or text as well.
It is important to realize that not all of your students will become English majors, but all of your students will have a job in adulthood and it is your job to prepare them as best as you can. Giving them the skills to draft all types of documents whether it be a paper on Shakespeare, a cover letter for a resume, or an email will only help them grow in the future and help them grow into successful adults.
Nicole's Thoughts 
I enjoyed hearing your English professor’s story. It is very relevant to this topic because so many people are not aware of how much they will use writing in their professional careers. it is very powerful that she was able to assist doctors in their writing because they have a crucial job and must convey their information correctly and professionally. Usually when people think about doctors and medical school, math and science come to mind. However, the importance of writing skills should not be undermined. I think that many people could benefit from hearing your professor’s story. It would help them understand just how crucial writing skills are in all careers. Formal writing is necessary for all people at some point in their lives, so it is our job as educators to teach our students how to express themselves formally through their writing.
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Hey Nicole! I wanted to start off by saying that I love that you included that story about your professor. It is a testament to the importance of writing outside of the classroom. I also like that you touched on the importance of informal writing in our everyday lives. Some people might not categorize things such as texting or tweeting as writing, however, they definitely are great examples of how writing is evolving. I think that making those type of real world connections to our future students would be a great way to get them engaged in learning how to become better writers. I believe that if we can show our students how writing is ingrained in their lives, the more interested they will become in writing. Finally, you make a great point by stating that not all of our students will become English majors. This is certainly true but does not mean that non-English majors can not benefit from learning how to become better writers.
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I love that you bring up how just because not everyone who is taught writing skills will become English majors does not mean that they will not need writing in some form in whatever path they choose to go down. Writing is such an amazing skill that can not only change a person’s life but those of the people around them. As potential teachers hopefully we can teach many different types of writing from presentations to lab reports, in that way perhaps we can make a difference in a student’s life when they realize how important those skills really were.
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Hi Nicole. I thought your professor expressed a very telling anecdote about writing. Your professor realized that there was a deep need for doctors to find help with their writing. Yes, doctors need to know how to articulate their ideas so that, without body language, requests for reclarification, or any other verbal and non-verbal cues that would indicate a doctor did not effectively express his or her ideas, any other health professional can provide the requested treatment. Though life or death situations is about as deep as writing can go, I think the implications of your professor’s story have an even wider impact.
Writing is a way of thinking. The way I see it, if you cannot effectively write out your ideas, then the quality of your thinking is not as high as it could be. I do not mean to sound that I am over-privileging writing instead of other mediums–say painting or mathematics. But it just so happens that language is the primary way in which we communicate ideas with each other. And I firmly believe that writing is just a more rigorous way of linguistic thought. So, if you cannot write well, then I am left to wonder how well you can think.
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