r his method no longer works. As Elbow puts it, Teachers are not the real audience. You dont write to teachers, you write for them.To avoid being named as the audience, a teacher often reads papers as an omniscient character. He may provide his own input at times, but prefers to observe and thus determine the reaction a general reader would have when reading the essay. This general reader is best described as, a creature blessed by intelligence, a certain amount of education (general), and an open mind. (Elbow) Because the general reader and the teacher are so closely connected, there is always confusion (even on the teachers behalf) concerning the opinions of such an ill-defined and vague personality. Elbow considers this problem and writes, Its hard to argue well or learn about argument when you are unsure who your audience is and what its position on the topic is likely to be.Also in Writing for Teachers, Elbow states, Students discover they get knocked down more when they try their hardest. All but the born fighters learn to hold backto do less than their bestwhen they spar with teachers. This behavior produces many disadvantages. Not only does it eliminate any sense of motivation the student may previously have entertained, but it teaches each author that it is okay, and even acceptable, to turn in work that is less than their best. This learned behavior is also responsible for the production of bull as described by William G. Perry, Jr. in Examsmanship and the Liberal Arts, To bull- To present evidence of an understanding of form in the hope that the reader may be deceived into supposing a familiarity with content. When a student uses such a technique in his writing, it is hard to believe that he put much effort into his piece and yet, he will most likely be rewarded with a decent grade. Perry reasons, Perhaps this value accounts for the final anomaly: as instructors, we are inclined to reward bull highly, where we do not detect...
