honestly i don't think of my writing as art very much, but my take on e.g. science has value to people because of the way i choose to explain things, compare them, and draw people in with language that shows how much i know everyone can understand. if they don't get it, that's on me, not them.

you have a perspective and a cocktail of personality and experience that no one else has ever had. two ideas that even sound strikingly similar will not ever be written the same by two human beings. & think of how meaningful it is when art has felt made just for you. you can be that to someone else.

just going to xpost my answer here for those who'll see it too!!

honestly i don't think of my writing as art very much, but my take on e.g. science has value to people because of the way i choose to explain things, compare them, and draw people in with language that shows how much i know everyone can understand. if they don't get it, that's on me, not them.

book is old enough that i wonder if people have done work in response or conversation with it too. but i think people have talked about what happens to kids as a result of . . . schools being kind of fascist and rigid in ways like this, for a long time, right? like all your friends are +/- ~6 mos

yes!! in the context where i was hearing about the skills lag, i was kibitzing public committee meetings at a large public university where the subtext was that any intervention would mean cutting something else, and there was also no hope of funding on the pre-college side of things. not simple

oh definitely -- i think i'm more curious about the demographics of students themselves and if it just took a while for a nascent skills crisis (of any causes or factors, not students' fault!) to reach certain . . . corners, types of institutions, types of fields. but it sounds like it's likely both

i know anecdata sells, but it's bizarre to see someone like this faculty member air direct personal commentary this way like that's appropriate, ethical, etc. they don't seem right coded, but must also know this is right wing reactionary bait, esp long threads without any evidence, right?

and to be clear, it's not those kids' fault, this is systemic failure in some way that just passes issues up the chain and hurts the kids more than anyone.

i'm curious if, in some way, this is like the trickle up or out (?) of issues educators have been identifying for at least 10 years (that just i know of and i'm not an educator!), of kids coming to college with remedial levels in a lot of skills? it seemed like that was already a crisis.

homemade.................leine