Writing in the New York Times, Stanley Fish admits that most of his students are terrible writers and realizes that it has much to do with the politicized nature of college composition courses. (He ought to also consider the failure of K-12 education in this regard; few education schools treat it as important for their students to be good at writing, much less capable of instructing others in it.) But then he goes on and on about how uncomfortable it is for him to have ACTA (and presumably other groups critical of contemporary higher ed) as an ally because of what he takes to be the group’s agenda.

Putting aside the question of this supposed agenda, does Fish believe that there would ever be the slightest interest in dropping the current approaches to writing (ranging from the “grammar rules are oppression!” types to those who think that as long as students are trying to say politically correct things, it shouldn’t matter how well they craft their sentences) if it weren’t for reform groups like ACTA and the Pope Center drawing attention to this problem?