By The Beacon Editorial Board
UP's writing embedded courses, Biblical Traditions and introductory philosophy and literature, help bridge the gap into advanced college-level writing.
Mixing style and content, writing form and coursework, however, has the risk of diluting both.
These are all core classes, so their content is central to UP's liberal arts image. Some background offered by the core cirriculum enriches the mind and makes for more well-rounded (which means more employable and promotable) graduates. Writing skill, even at basic levels, is powerful. Advanced writing skills even more so. All of these things are vital no matter what career path students embark upon.
Our worry that mixing both topics into single classes gives an incomplete education in both. In the experience of the editorial board, many students seem to fall short of the aptitude appropriate for college students.
Not all professors may be the best writing coaches. Even if they are, it could take away from the time they have to teach their specific subject.
Many students have been well served with the course-related embedded curriculum, yes. But writing skill and the knowledge gained from the core classes are too important for either to be diminished by mixing too much too often. Because of this, we think the school should consider expanding the writing requirement in to a full-fledged class
We say this with the conceit that we, as word people, probably can't help ourselves but to edit. Perhaps we just notice mediocre writing more. Also, with writing classes and different levels of writers could come tracking issues.
Even with that in mind, students should get the maximum bang for their buck, so we think this is worth investigating.
