After re-reading Inventing the University by David Bartholomae my opinion of Bartholomae has shifted slightly into a more positive direction. I understand that Bartholomae's tone may appear a bit pretentious, arrogant and condescending, but his passion for academic writing is hard to ignore. I don't think Bartholomae's issue has to do with the incompetence of students but rather the lack of preparation they receive from teachers and professors. How can we blame students for not knowing something they were never taught? Bartholomae was simply expressing his expectations, the same expectations that are shared throughout the academic community. As freshmen, we are aware of these expectations, as Bartholomae noted in the examples of student essays he shared.
When I compare the Creativity Essay I was asked to write with the essays Bartholomae noted and with his expectations, I wouldn't know where to rate myself. When it comes to structure, organization and grammar I feel that I excel but all to often my writing can come across as a narrative memoir, rather than academic. For this assignment I chose my experience as an expecting mother to play on the idea of being creative and creating life. I didn't really consider a particular audience outside of the professor for the class, neither did I feel the need to add any commonplaces. When I thought of creativity, I thought of a unique and intimate experience one feels within, again playing on the concept of pregnancy. My creative process for describing creativity was to write from the heart, without considering the academic discourse of my elders.
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