At least once a semester, I have a conversation that goes something like this: a colleague looks at her students' essays and moans, "They just can't write." When I ask how much class time she spends talking about student writing, I'm told quite sharply that "There is way too much material to cover to spend time on that, so I just give them a handout. I mean, aren't they supposed to learn this stuff in first-year comp?".
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