Fishing for Success

As Stanley Fish makes his argument on why college students are not advanced or as "ready" for being able to write in a college atmosphere, he refers to many different ideas as he make a claim. In the beginning, he claims that middle and high school courses may be a problem. He connects this to his question as to why college professors have to pick up the slack and basic "teach the obvious knowledge" to a college freshman. This then leads to the overall question, “What should first year college writing classes be teaching?”

In a freshman English course, reading can be the most important parts aquiring to writing a paper.

 Referring back to Fish, I don’t think it is entirely the prior education fault.  Every student is different and learns a different way so I think each person may take a different approach to the subject.  I do think though that in secondary education, the English teachers should bring the students up to par on what to except as they leave for higher education. Having been in and taking a freshman- level English course, I have been lead back to an overall theme at hand, which is “an argument” or what I have learned as “they say, I say”. Referring to the topic on what exactly a college class should teach, I can elaborate on what Fish is trying to say. In my experience in a college writing studio and sitting in on tutoring sessions for research, there has been many new topics and strategies that I can further use in moving on in my college career. It is not entirely about the format or stage of the writing, it is about the point that you are trying to get across to the reader or what the reader is going to take away from the paper.

Sometimes your overall idea of a paper may not be to argue with your reader, but to convince them that what you say is true and can affect their view. I think that in a first level college class, you should be first starting out learning on how to develop a paper or piece of writing that someone can either question or agree with, then being able to expand on that chosen topic. The goal should be how to become an overall good writer. Going back to the they say/ I say topic, I have been adding this into my writing. I can say and write what I think, but at the same time, comparing it to another piece. And when you can use this, it then develops into the argument. (to read more on this topic, refer to pages 3-4 in the chapter)

I can see where Fish is trying to go with his point but, there can be a counterexample for each one he is writing about. Some I can agree with and some I cannot. There was one quote in particular that did stand out. He claims that, “you’re not going to be able to change the world if you are not equipped with the tools that speak to its present condition.” This kind of defines what a freshman class should teach. You are learning and developing your tools to move ahead in your education. If you only use the tools you have had for a long time and not bring in the new ones, your style will be plain. Adding in the tools to make an argument or how to contrast with the writer of another source will expand your abilities and make your writings successful.

This fish obviously had a successful paper.