Bartholomae - Inventing the University

I think we have all been here. Trying to figure out what the teacher wants us to write, trying to figure out the best way to write it. I have to give David Bartholomae kudos for acknowledging students actually fake it. Initially, my thoughts on this article were along the lines of "finally, someone realizes that I'm trying to do twenty things at once and please twenty different people who each want fifty different things from me". But then, I wasn't sure what his advice for me was. As a student, as a writer, should I really just go on faking it?

Bartholomae seems to assert several times through his article that student writers simply have no choice but to conform to what their teachers want. He argues exercises that ask students to write to someone who has no knowledge of the topic are near pointless. The clearest expectation Bartholomae presents, in my mind, is when he writes "One of the common assumptions of both composition research and composition teaching is that at some "stage" in the process of composing an essay a writer's ideas or his motives must be tailored to the needs and expecations of his audience." This idea, I think, says "yes, fake it, but be as real as possible while you're at it."

Since when did writing become so complicated? We have to address the audience, but not at the same time. Remember to follow a "Process", but don't follow the "process". And then we have to fake it and be real all while revising as we write but remembering to hold revision until we're done with the draft. If nothing else, this article has helped me to understand that like everything else in the world, there are several ways to think about writing - several ways to teach it, critique it, do it and move it.