Abstract
Statistics and numerical completion rates have come to dominate how we think about higher education in America today. This focus on bottom line metrics and “return on investment” is drawn from neoliberal economic theory, which suggests that a free market business model can find solutions to most human problems, if it can only be left alone to do what it does best. When applied to non-business-related endeavors like education and especially basic writing programs, however, this numbers-driven approach hides from view a crucial variety of complex contextual factors that play pivotal roles in the lives of many basic writing students. These include powerful social, cultural, and economic forces well beyond the control of any single individual. This essay seeks to resist and subvert this neoliberal formulation, now widespread across America, and replace it with a more local, individualized, student-centered understanding of success for basic writers. This essay seeks to enact this important work through the use of student-authored vignettesâbasic writing students speaking for themselves to us about their lives, challenges, goals, and aspirations.
- Journal
- Basic Writing e-Journal
- Published
- 2020
- CompPile
- Open Access
- OA PDF Gold
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