SQR

SQR: Inventing the university.

In Inventing the University by Bartholomae, he states that students of the university should gain a knowledge of being able to write as a professor would. He believes that students should just try to speak as though they have the full knowledge of the subject. When writing about different topics you should use the vocabulary spoken in the course. Bartholomae also feels that professors want to see the students trying to mimic and that the students will be more successful in their work if they do so. Most students are not aware of how to gain such a voice because they havent all the knowledge in the subject matter and return to the voice of a teacher lecturing. Students must gain a voice that allows them to sound like a person with authority because they need to seem like they have all the knowledge of a professor. Bartholomae then goes on to telling of what he found when reading essays written by students. He looked for transitions and if the student was able to comfortably talk the language of the professor.




Is telling students to bullshit their way through college courses really going to help them truly gain the knowledge of the course?

I can see how some students may feel weird about being told that we should bullshit our way through papers however it shouldn’t come as much of a surpise. As students we havent enough knowledge to write papers that our proffessors find good, therefore going through the motions might as well be the best bet for success in college. I feel that through faking, it will soon come naturally to students. Throwing yourself into this way of writing may be the best way to familiarize students with what is expected.