Lu Response

In Min-Zhan Lu’s article, Professing Multiculturalism, the author seeks to explore the question of how to conceive/practice teaching methods which use a multicultural approach to style. She is especially interested in looking at styles of writing that are full of error. Lu has two motivations for doing this: (1) concern about theory and teaching practice and (2) concern about the division between the role of composition teachers and the role they play as students, teachers, or scholars in other areas.

Lu looks at two stories that showcase this kind of division. In Gertrude Stein’s story, Stein is approached by a young man who questions her writing ability. He questions her because he believes that: (a) the writer’s knowledge of English is conditional upon whether or not the writer is a native speaker and (b) concern that the writer has been “imperfectly educated.” These are often false assumptions “educated” speakers make about the validity of writers who fall outside of mainstream society.

In Lu’s second story, Theodore Dreiser is questioned by a publisher who does not care for Dreiser’s “uneven style.” In this instance, Dreiser seeks out people he feels are strong writers and has them correct his grammar and sentence structure. He is not as assertive as Stein and changes his entire format to become more like the “educated” Americans he admires. This is a problem because the powerful writing techniques utilized by Dreiser are lost and thus his book has lost its true character.

Lu believes that creating a teaching method which views the classroom as a “contact zone” can correct these problems. In her opinion, “form” and “content” are intertwined in a way that they cannot operate separate from each other. Lu does not think writers should “throw out” grammar, but she feels they should learn to appreciate others who have different ranges of choice as writers. These individuals should be able to choose how they write in the context of the history, culture, and society in which they live. Not everyone is the same, and Lu believes that writers’ culture often brings a great deal of power to their writing.

This article reminded me of the Perl and Sommers’ article we read a short while back. Perl, Sommers, and Lu all believe that students’ writing suffers if they are unable to articulate their ideas in clear and concise fashion. If the writing is unclear and hard to understand, readers will not be able to get past the form to evaluate the content. I agree with this argument because I become very frustrated when I cannot understand what beginning writers are attempting to say.

In my opinion, if a writer is capable of understanding complex ideas and making strong arguments, he/she has already mastered the “hardest” part of the writing process. Grammar and punctuation can be easily corrected by enabling spell-check or asking another person to proofread the work. I feel that individuals who struggle with these “knots” and “tangles” should be responsible for seeking out help if they want their thoughts and ideas to be understood and respected. The reason we have grammar and punctuation is so that we have a uniform understanding of writing and a clear way to communicate with each other. In this respect, I don't see why 'unskilled' writers would do themselves a disservice by not editing their thoughts, especially if they have do important ideas that are worth sharing.