Gere, Eubank's and Schaeffer

The two essays “Kitchen Tables and Rented Rooms: The Extra curriculum of Composition” by Anne Ruggles Gere and “A Kind Word for Bullshit: The Problem of Academic Writing” by Eubanks and Schaeffer don’t seem to have too much in common after the first reading. Gere’s essay directs the reader more towards the positives of the extra curriculum writing groups out in the world such as the examples of the Tenderloin Women’s Writing Workshop and the Lansing, Iowa Writer’s Workshop that show how people can find new levels of self-esteem through their extra curriculum writing groups. The Eubanks and Schaeffer’s essay on the other hand attempt to define bullshit and describe how it is found in great abundance in the world of academic writing. More obvious on the differences between the two articles is the readability. Gere’s article was less confusing than the seemingly more advanced Eubank’s and Schaeffer essay.

Though the bases of both essays were different there were some similarities. Both essays had their comments on the problems of academic writing and literacy in schools. According to all of the authors a reader gets a sense that there is too much structure in schools when it comes to writing. In Gere’s article she describes how schools are important bases for a person’s writing but there is not enough freedom when it comes to a students writing. In the Schaeffer and Eubank’s article there are paragraphs describing how the professors will use jargon or “bullshit” to make them appear better than they might actually be and then the article continues to describe how students will emulate their professors and this is their base for their professional writing thus restricting a students writing. According to all the authors schools give a student the basics of writing. Schools teach a student the cores of writing whether it is just basic grammar and structure or the different forms of writing jargons that a student learns from reading their professors writings.