Writerland is a newsletter from The Delacorte Review whose mission is to help writers tell the stories they need to tell. * * *Thanks for reading Writerland! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Have you heard the one about the organic chemistry prof who was fired for being mean? No joke.
“Decades later they too often apply those same lessons to writing: red ink = bad. Do not do that again. Which, in turn, risks molding a young writer into someone who forsakes creativity into someone whose core skill is avoiding pain” this is such a great analogy and something I think a lot of children of immigrant households can relate to as we’re taught to learn through the lens of perfectionism and getting the highest grades -- so learning with the hope not to fail or get below a A*** versus learning to learn and that really shows up in life! Thank you for writing this!
I’ve spent several days trying to put my response to this incident into words. Thanks for finding them for me. Teaching, like editing, should be a partnership designed to find the student’s/writer’s best. You don’t do that by sugarcoating and coddling, nor do you do it by browbeating or dismissing.
Thanks Lisa. It's fine balance but erring on the side of decency always produces better writers
“Decades later they too often apply those same lessons to writing: red ink = bad. Do not do that again. Which, in turn, risks molding a young writer into someone who forsakes creativity into someone whose core skill is avoiding pain” this is such a great analogy and something I think a lot of children of immigrant households can relate to as we’re taught to learn through the lens of perfectionism and getting the highest grades -- so learning with the hope not to fail or get below a A*** versus learning to learn and that really shows up in life! Thank you for writing this!
I’ve spent several days trying to put my response to this incident into words. Thanks for finding them for me. Teaching, like editing, should be a partnership designed to find the student’s/writer’s best. You don’t do that by sugarcoating and coddling, nor do you do it by browbeating or dismissing.