[MD] 1961 Paper - "Quality in Freshman Writing"

[Michael Hamilton]

First off, big thanks to Ian for getting hold of this, and thanks also
to Bob, if he's reading this, for supplying it!

I'd been wondering if this piece would show some kind of different
perspective from ZMM and Lila - after all, this is the first thing
we've seen written by the "Phaedrus" of ZMM, before
insanity/enlightenment and the electrodes... but on first reading,
this doesn't seem to be the case. The crucial passage from ZMM about
the "many marvellous analogues" etc is there just the same. This whole
part of ZMM about teaching quality and the subsequent waves of
crystallisation was always the part that blew me away, so it's useful
to have it against in a slightly different and more self-contained
form.

Anyway, I hadn't asked to see this paper with the intention of prying
into the development of Phaedrus's psyche or whatever... I asked to
see it because I'm now a university first-year, and struggling to
write. Academic essays, though. Not creative composition. But perhaps
the difference between the two isn't so great. If rotisserie assemply
is a form of sculpture, then writing an essay is easily a form of
creative composition. There's no single way of doing it, it's a craft.

I've written lots of essays before, but I've always been uneasy with
the process of writing, and it was getting more and more tortuous. To
be honest, even writing this involves annoying levels of
self-criticism, rather than being a simple, honest flow of
consciousness. This is a big gumption trap, no doubt about it. Or
perhaps it stems from a lack of gumption at the outset. Dunno.

One thing I am sure of: education would be a much better experience
for everyone if all teachers (at any level) read this paper.

Regards,
Mike

On 12/6/06, ian glendinning <psybertron at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Dan,
>
> I've only fully read it myself today, and I have to say that despite
> Bob's warning, there is a lot in it that does not appear in ZMM,
> and/or is expressed quite differently. Some interesting reading for
> the scholars.
>
> Regards
> Ian
>
> On 12/6/06, Dan Glover <daneglover at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Ian
> >
> > Thank you for sharing!
> >
> > Dan
> >
> > >From: "ian glendinning" <psybertron at gmail.com>
> > >Reply-To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
> > >To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
> > >Subject: [MD] 1961 Paper - "Quality in Freshman Writing"
> > >Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 08:43:42 -0600
> > >
> > >As requested earlier by Michael Hamilton, here is a copy of
> > >Pirsig's 1961 paper "Quality in Freshman Writing".
> >
> >
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