More Blabbering Disclosure Later; For now...

Folks, I'll get back to this riveting story of self-discovery later. For now, I'd like to share a few thoughts on our first reading, Moore's 1950 article on Labs and Clinics. What you'll notice early and often is his reference to the laboratory/clinic purpose of "removing deficiencies." He's writing mid-century, hightime for positivist thinking within education, marked by the adoption of scientific (or pseudo-scientific) language and method across the disciplines. The language, even in humanities, bows toward scientific method. Identifying a facility as a Writing Clinic or Writing Laboratory would seem to add an element of certainty to the work that's accomplished therein. As Moore's article demonstrates, we've been applying medical terminology and metaphor to our discussions of literacy for quite some time. In "Reconceptualizing the language of adult literacy," Isley and Stahl (1993) examine some of the more persistent metaphors and models for literacy and literacy education. One of the more odious examples is the medical metaphor, which understands illiteracy as a societal disease or an affliction. Sufferers are encouraged to check into learning clinics where their "symptoms are hypothesized during a triage-like intake interview" (p. 7). A follow-up diagnosis is made, and an individualized treatment plan is prescribed. This is the Writing Clinic that Moore is observing. The allure of the medical metaphor is the perception that literacy education--that writing instruction--can be scientifically precise. This model, however, is not very appealing to potential participants, and it situates the problem squarely within the individual--not the system or society. In other words, students needing treatment have writing deficiencies that are indicative of personal, mental, or learning deficiencies. The legacy of the historical manifestation of the Writing Center as clinic still works against our mission; the legacy is that the Writing Center is seen as a site of remediation and is the province of defective students.