Teaching Writing Shouldn't Be a Blood Sport

(but too often, it is)

I’ve done a lot of speaking at colleges and universities around the country and faculty members have invariably told me behind-the-scenes stories.  The tales of petty infighting, squabbling committees, ridiculous but vicious vendettas, and administrative incompetence have made great raw material for my Nick Hoffman academic mystery series.

But teaching closer to home, I've also heard stories from students that aren’t funny, stories about what it’s like for them to be in a classroom with a professor who sees teaching very differently than I do. These teachers seemed to enjoy badgering and browbeating students as if they’re coaches whipping an under-performing player into shape.

Creative writing is one of my passions and I heard of professors in these classes who stop students while they’re reading aloud and say, “That stinks!” or "That's crap.  Stop reading."  This behavior is abusive and inexcusable.

Some creative writing professors are so intimidating that they make students shake with fear. Others I've been told about play favorites and don’t let everyone read work aloud. In my creative writing classes when I taught at Michigan State University, everyone read aloud; the class should be a community, not a cage match.  Why do any professors believe they have a right to make their students suffer?

The reports I got were from students of mine who had taken my intro creative writing courses but couldn’t continue with me in advanced courses because the department refused to let me teach them. That was the case even though I had published more books than the entire creative writing faculty put together. I found out eventually that senior faculty objected and then there was one a new department chair who told me it would give the department a bed rep if an adjunct taught upper level courses. When I pointed out how qualified I was, she kicked me out of her office.

I taught and teach inspired by my amazing creative writing teacher at Fordham University who became my mentor and model. She ran her writing workshops with good humor and warmth. She spurred us all to write better by pinpointing what we did best and helping us improve whatever that was.

She never insulted us, humiliated us, made fun of us, or played favorites. She encouraged us all with grace and good humor. I’d even say she enjoyed us; she definitely enjoyed being in the classroom and made us feel that way, too. Her sense of humor was gentle and affirming.

Teaching isn’t combat, especially teaching creative writing. We’re not in the classroom to humiliate and harden our students as if they’re going into the cutthroat world of business or getting ready for the next football game against a team with no losses. Our role should be to help them grow as writers, identify what they do best and where they need to do more work--without tearing them down.

As reporter Charles Kuralt put it simply: “Good teachers know how to bring out the best in their students.” Who needs shame to do that?

Lev Raphael edits, coaches, and mentors writers at writewithoutborders with forty years of experience publishing, editing, and teaching at universities, writing conferences, and online. He’s authored twenty-seven books in many genres and has seen his work appear in fifteen languages and taught at colleges and universities as well as widely anthologized.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay