Gerald Graff is professor of English and Education at the University of Illinois. He is author of several books and articles and a major contributor to cultural debate in the United States. In this book, he looks at the difficulty contemporary students have with academic discourse. Why can't they understand and follow the debates and discussions central to their academic majors? The title sounds like he is laying blame on the students, but in fact, he isn't.
Students are "clueless" for two reasons: (a) they are not sufficiently challenged in secondary school and tend to shut down when confronted with "difficult" writing and (b) their professors refuse to compromise their language so that neophytes can understand it. Graff sets out to pose solutions to both of these problems in his book.
For students, the answer is an educational system that is more challenging and less concerned that everyone pass. It would be an education system firmly grounded in books and reading as opposed to experiential learning. This will probably never happen; too many entrenched interests would be affected.
For professors, the answer is to get down off their high horses and deign to explain things to their students. Graff offers several practical writing tips for professors, many of them the kind of thing one would tell a freshman class: use examples, occasionally employ colloquial language, consider your audience. That professors should require writing tips is troubling.
I enjoyed this book because Graff puts a lot of energy into proposing solutions without ignoring the problems. I think his a particularly humanities oriented approach that will not find acceptance in other fields.
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