Bottom line: we should not be entertaining student papers, because these
are undergraduates.  Other scholarly disciplines simply do not do this.

John


At 04:05 PM 3/27/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Rick:
>
>        If you want to avoid the "unfairness" issue, announce to the class
that
>anyone can turn in a draft, etc.  Then, you give people a chance to craft
>their best work, etc.  I have been doing something like this for several
>semesters and the quality of the written work (logic, detail, organization,
>etc.) improves greatly.  Of course, it is more work for me, but I am
>fortunate to have relatively small classes.  The students who really need
>to take advantage of this offer frequently do not.  Often, the ones who are
>grade-driven will do it to help guarantee an "A."  Doing a draft is a form
>of "continuous improvement," as students have an opportunity to refine
>their thinking and their skills.
>
>        I believe offering to review drafts help students in their
development,
>especially if they have few opportunities to do written work in our classes.
>
>Paul Lyons
>Frostburg State University
>