Resonating Quotes

• "Mina did do her best: she devoted all of her formidable intelligence, experience, discipline, and energy to the SEEK students through her teaching, through her administration, in her writing, and in her presentations - and she did so despite great resistance to her work, resistance that often took the form of personal attacks." (90)

• "Mina and other SEEK instructors were accused of being incompetent; their credentials questioned; they were made to feel unwanted.  City College was no place to teach fundamentals of writing, many of the tenured professors claimed. 'Is this what I'm being paid to do?' asked Geoffrey Wagner, one of the staunchest (and most vocal) opponents to Open Admissions.  ...he exclaimed: 'You've brought the slums to my office.'  Mina often found threatening and insulting notes in her mailbox or scrawled on her office door, [or] pornographic photos...with the word 'whore' printed across them." (94)

These quotes remind me of Professor Gleason's point/warning made in class that those entering and working in the field of basic writing would receive less respect than professors that teach something of more prestige like history, language, or mathematics.  Our student base will be seen as a hassle, a weight bringing the institution down, a liability.  Mina charged through the opposition to reach the greater purpose of helping the disadvantaged succeed.  There is still opposition in having to have to "clean up other's messes".  Perhaps a part of the American identity of individualism?