Peer editing! D spent her senior year of high school as a TA for the junior year AP Lang and Comp class. Part of her “job” was to make comments on essays which the teacher would then review before returning the papers to students. She learned as much about writing from that experience as she did from taking the course herself the year before. I had been concerned being a TA would be a waste of a class. I only let her do it because there was literally nothing else offered that hour that she could take. It turned out to be a great learning experience.
This thread made me curious so I chatted with my D about parental help on papers. Her college honor code states that the professor is responsible for setting the rules and the students for following them in this regard. She has had profs who allow no outside help and those that encourage it, including the option to submit a draft to the prof for comments before the final paper is due. I expect her to follow those guidelines and she does. She shared a couple of papers in the no outside help class with me because she thought I’d be interested (in my major) but not until after she had turned them in for grades. For the other classes I’m happy to proofread and provide comments but there’s no way I’m writing the paper–been there, done that, have the degree–it’s her turn. I do gear the help I provide toward helping her learn (not earning her an A) and comment accordingly.
“I just wondered why, absent an environmental college admissions obsession, parents are nonetheless getting so involved in their children’s work.”
Many do for negative reasons, like a lack of boundaries and wanting to control everything in their child’s life. But I think there are positive reasons to do it, too. Even if we assume the teachers have the time, skill, and inclination to give great comments on papers, no two editors will read a document the same way. One pair of expert eyes is good; two is better.
As an English teacher, I have to admit I do not give students anywhere near enough feedback on their writing these days. I used to teach private school with 12 or 18 students in a class and that was a whole different thing. But in public school, a decade ago, we had a limit of 32 in English (five classes a day), but now it’s 38. It’s hard to read 180 or so essays, let alone give detailed comments. Administrators say “just use a rubric.”
If parents can read and comment on their children’s essays and help them learn how to write, I think they should–just as long as they are not doing the work for them or giving them help that is against the rules.
My D’s freshman dorm roommate was a very poor student. Her mother literally wrote all her papers for her, or at least edited them and pushed and prodded. One time I was visiting the dorms and her Mom (who lived 3 states away) was visiting also. She was literally at an outdoor table with her D writing one of her big papers with her. I thought it was about as wrong as things could get.
However, I am the first one in line to volunteer to help edit or proofread anything that is involved with resumes or application essays because I know my D doesn’t proofread as well as she should.