Chronicle of Higher Ed Lauds USU Press Book

The Chronicle of Higher Education will focus their spotlight on a new book out from Utah State University Press. On Tuesday, Dec. 10, the book will be featured on the Chronicle’s Web site teaching page at http://chronicle.com/teaching.

 

"Whose Goals? Whose Aspirations? Learning to Teach Underprepared Writers Across the Curriculum" chronicles the struggles of a teacher dealing with students who are not prepared for college-level writing.

 

Ever since Horace Mann promoted state-supported schooling in the 1850s, the aims of U.S. public education have been the subject of heated national debate. "Whose Goals? Whose Aspirations?" joins this debate by exploring clashing educational aims in a discipline-based university classroom and the consequences of these clashes for "underprepared" writers. In this close-up look at a white, middle-class teacher and his ethnically diverse students, authors Stephen M. Fishman and Lucille McCarthy examine not only the role of standard English in college writing instruction but also the underlying and highly charged issues of multiculturalism, race cognizance and social class.

 

Ira Shor, professor of education at CUNY and author of numerous well-known volumes, describes "Whose Goals?" as "a brave and smart book. [Fishman and McCarthy] honestly and thoughtfully reveal what goes on in the student-teacher encounter when examined through the demanding lenses of oppositional theory."

 

Donald McCrary, English professor at Long Island University, nationally known for his work with inner city students, writes, "The authors challenge and support teachers in their attempts to re-imagine pedagogy as both linguistically and socially emancipatory. This is a book that may make readers uncomfortable, but it is one they will read and use."

 

For more information, see the "Chronicle of Higher Education" Dec. 10 at http://chronicle.com/teaching or contact Brooke Bigelow at Utah State University Press, 435-797-1362.