Frankly, I find this blogging thing very annoying, and here are my reasons
1.) I do not believe the process of blogging will make you a better writer, just because you have an "audience" (see point two). When you blog, you are more apt to write in a casual, conversational tone. Since this is not graded. I could. write in incomplete. sentences that. were not. capitalized and culd. by mispeled. If I write a blog like I was talking to someone, I'm not working on writing skills, I'm working on figuring out a speech, and simply writing it down (which is not a good thing anyways, you should be able to give speeches without reading off a written script by now). I doubt anyone in this class puts more then a couple minutes or a few passing thoughts into what they will blog about and quality is not top priority.
2.) Just because you have a supposed "audience" does not mean it will motivate you to write. So maybe 20 other people at most might look at your blog. You don't really care, and you're doing this for English class, not because you actually want to do this, so it simply becomes a plug and chug to complete it without much regard for what your audience thinks, because they honestly don't really care all that much.
3.) The time you spend blogging, and looking at other blogs just so you can write something down to get your weekly comment in can be better spent elsewhere. The time I've spent blogging today, I could of used to study for my up coming biology laboratory practical, or I could have gone to bed early, or worked on something else important with a deadline. Instead I'm wasting my time doing something I care zilch about, which for the most part reflects the feelings of others.
My proposal is to remove this blogging requirement from this Composition I class. It really is a bother, and I don't think it makes much of a difference in a person's writing ability so it purpose is not fulfilled. My writing has not improved this semester because I blogged, in fact some of my worst writing is manifested on this blog.
Let's end this inane insanity.
Aw, Nedda. At least you have some logos in support of your argument! (Though I'm not sure your tone is rhetorically effective :-))
ReplyDeleteI would be more open to your arguments if it wasn't for the fact that I know first hand how effective this imposed (in my case self-imposed) requirement can be. It certainly is possible to go through the motions with this requirement and not benefit from it, in which case you really are practicing inane insanity. And obviously, you don't need this requirement to force you to write. But I'm sure that you can attest to the power of writing to generate thought. As you wrote in a previous post: "Have a general idea for the plot, but don't hold yourself rigidly to your preconceived notions and let the story lead you where it will. You may surprised, and may very be pleased with the result."
Obviously, we've only got a couple of weeks left, so you can hit the minimal requirements and be done with it. Or you could really challenge yourself to think through an issue by writing about it. You may be surprised, and may be very pleased with the result.