Too much help may actually hinder your college-bound child
Q. After some debate, my husband and I hired a college consultant for our daughter, a senior at a private high school who hopes to attend a competitive college. The consultant has been helpful throughout the application process, and in particular with the college essay. However, his advice on how to revise the essay is very different from that offered by our daughter's English teacher and guidance counselor, as well as my husband. My daughter respects the views offered but is left in the awkward position of wondering whose advice to take. Any advice?
K.M., Hingham
A. Kind of you to invite another chef into the kitchen. Sure, parents want to give their kids every opportunity and advantage possible. At some point, however, taking this tack hobbles what should be a steady stride with instructive stumbles toward independence, maturity, and resourcefulness.
How personal is the personal statement in a college application if the process is more collaborative than individual? College admissions officers have no trouble spotting the essay that has been massaged by too many hands. I've seen my share of consultant-buffed essays this fall, most of which I would describe as competent and bland. They'll neither help nor hurt a student. The writing tends to lack texture, voice, and originality. That's a missed opportunity for a senior to distinguish herself from those with comparable SATs, GPAs, and extracurricular activities.
Encourage your daughter to trust her own judgment. My guess is that she has a good sense of what she wants to say and knows which adult will lend a light, helpful hand. A thoughtful senior should be learning how to handle contradictory advice, that is, how to articulate her views while respectfully declining another's.
P.S. I can understand debating whether to spend money on a college consultant, particularly when you're paying private school tuition. I encourage other parents to investigate the resources available at their child's school before paying for an outside assist.
Q. I have recently started hearing more and more about bringing rap and hip-hop into high school classrooms as a way to teach literature and writing. Do you think it can or should take the place of a conventional literature course?
P.F., Dorchester
A. If a rap lyric can lead to a fruitful discussion of metaphor or meter or metonymy, there's a place for it in an English class. Parsing a Public Enemy lyric can, at times, hook more students than scanning a sonnet from the Bard. That said, I would see rap or any piece of pop culture complementing, rather than replacing, traditional curriculum.
Challenging prose and poetry can be a tough sell to students more attuned to sound and image. Most prefer double-clicking a colorful screen to turning a black-and-white page. It's tempting to present students with the contents of their iPods rather than that of literary anthologies. I've found, though, that most students soon see the limitations of contemporary songs in the study of reading and writing. Turns out they're able, if not initially willing, to wrestle with Homer's verse or Virginia Woolf's prose.
More, I agree with the dictum that writers should know the rules before they bend or break them. Rap, like most popular music, plays loose with conventional grammar. Combine that influence with the prevalence of text messaging among students today and a discussion of fragments or dangling participles seems impossible.
We need to teach students to read with a writer's eye. The well-made text can be a lifelong teacher. We're responsible for helping our students identify and investigate something more substantive than a song lyric.
On a different note, the best of hip-hop and rap presents an invaluable cultural document, which I would include in any classroom discussion of race and racism today.
Ron Fletcher teaches English at Boston College High. To submit a question, e-mail asktheteacher @globe.com. Include your name, town, and e-mail address. Questions, upon request, can be printed anonymously. Ask the Teacher runs on alternate Sundays with Campus Insider, a roundup of higher education items.
