Yes!
And with that in mind you can probably see why it's impossible for me to
participate in traditional grading practices. Won't go so far as to say my
fumbling attempts to find other means are necessarily good, but I have to
do *something* different--otherwise all my ranting is for nought & I'm
worse than a failure. Complying with convention is the only avenue that
isn't available. That road is closed.
I like your estimation of what students may need to get from writing
education:
> bet that students will need to be effective information processors,
> manage large volumes of inforamation and find what they need quickly.
> I'll bet they will still need strong communications skills, collaborative
> work experience, and the ability to consciously transfer effective writing
> practices from one context to another.
...but I don't think most writing curricula (er, my *impression* of most
writing curricula) contribute too damn much to any of those skills.
College, in general, doesn't. Those are characteristics you'll find in
folks who happened to develop interest in reading and writing early on and
manage to nurture that flame of interest in spite of all the buckets of
cold water dumped on it by the education system. Then when they get into
the workworld, their interests and skills adapt to new situations and they
thrive.
--Eric Crump