Basic Writers in Urban Community Colleges

Alan Meyers
Harry S Truman College

As I write this near the end of the fall 2003 semester, I am concerned about a student in my English 100 course. A thirty-five-year- old African American single mother of a young child, Anika is a recovering alcohol and drug abuser and the best writer in my class. She has participated eagerly in class discussions, learned quickly, and has even said at one point “I'm getting really good at this stuff.” More than three weeks ago, she told me that she would miss class because of a court appointment and returned to the subsequent class.

I have not seen or heard from her since. Yesterday, I called the number on my class list, talked to her father with whom she does not live but whose address she used on her registration program, and learned that he had no idea why she was not attending. He said that she is currently living with her mother and gave me a cell phone number that is now out of service.

Anika is not an unusual example of a basic writing student in an urban community college.

As a teacher in such a setting for thirty-five years, I have greatly benefited from the research and insights from my colleagues in the universities Certainly we share the same formidable challenges: how to teach bright yet inexperienced writers to address audience and purpose, learn the conventions of academic prose, and overcome their difficulties with form, sentence boundaries, and the like.

But I also suspect that the BW students in urban community college are in some important ways different than those found in the universities. They are older, more impoverished, more overwhelmed with personal and occupation demands, and perhaps more easily distracted and discouraged. I would like to explore these contrasts here, profiling the student population at my college and similar institutions, and briefly examining the constraints under which these students must learn. I hope that this exploration will foster a discussion of ways to address those differences while dealing with the commonalities.

I chair the Communications Department at Harry S Truman College , one of the seven City Colleges of Chicago . Here is a snapshot of the BW students in the City Colleges and at Truman. See if it looks familiar:

Average age 29 (at Truman College : 34)

Race or ethnicity African American, (At Truman also 160 nationalities)

Hispanic, or white

Marital status many single mothers or fathers

Occupations cab drivers, factory workers, service industry workers, caregivers in nursing homes etc., white-collar workers, or unemployed

Income many below poverty level or on public assistance

Access to computers rapidly increasing, but many students without computers at home

Student status full-time (usually 12 hours, the minimum required for a full Pell Grant)

Courses enrolled in 74% in developmental English and reading (in a two-level program) 92% in developmental mathematics (in a two-level program); other courses vary although they tend not to be reading or writing intensive

My department offers two tracks in developmental English, one for ESL students (whom we choose not to call developmental) and the other for “native” speakers English. This distinction is blurred and largely artificial, for our native BW classes serve many generation 1.5 students (that is, students whose primary language is English but who speak another language in their home or community), and English speakers from African countries, India , Pakistan , and the Philippines . More than half of the courses we offer are developmental. And an additional 15,000 students per semester enroll in our non-credit free Adult Education Program in ESL and GED. I will focus my discussion on the native BW students in our credit program.

Almost all the BW students work full- or part-time or raise children, yet take at least twelve hours of classes so they can receive a Pell Grant. Some mothers of small children bring them to Truman's childcare center, which is tied to our Child Development Program. Not surprisingly, many of these women wish to major in Child Development. And since many BW students are already working as aides in health care of facilities, they aspire to be nurses (we have a highly successful and competitive program). Others wish to be computer programmers, business administration majors, and the like, although many have simply returned to school to get a better if vaguely defined job.

Class size for developmental students is large: 25 for day classes, 29 at night (the class size number has remained unchanged since 1966, when the City Colleges separated from the Chicago Public Schools). Late enrollments compound the difficulties of large class size. Between 14 and 20% of the students in the City Colleges enroll during the first week of classes, the vast majority of whom are BW students. Whether or not they register late, many BW students are often absent and are routinely tardy. Some stop attending altogether (but don't formally drop classes) because of personal issues unrelated to school: financial emergencies, abusive relationships, change in residence, and so on. Even if they drop out, however, they tend to “drop in”later, returning to school, sometimes after a gap of many years. Although few of the students graduate, many transfer to four-year institutions.

Let me add a few words about the faculty who teach the BW students. Full-time faculty teach 50 percent of the classes, while adjuncts who are paid less than $1,500 per course teach the remainder—usually at night or on weekends. As in common in urban environments, many adjunct faculty teach five or more courses spread over two or more colleges. At Truman, they receive class outlines and model syllabi but are mentored informally since few can attend scheduled meetings.

This is the profile of BW program in a large urban system. I would be interested to see how the program at your institution compares. Thus my questions for consideration:

•  What are the typical age, race, and socio-economic status of your basic writing student?

•  How is your BW program constituted (in class size, number of levels, assignment and training of instructors, and so on)?

•  Do BW students tend to miss class, be late, drop out and return at different rates from the non-BW students?

•  How successful are your programs—in any way that you choose to define success?

As we engage in a dialogue, I will be happy to describe our approaches to teaching our courses, our plans for change, and our attempts at innovation.

Works Cited

Teaching Basic Writing