North articles - notes for my classmates

So, this idea of an "idea" of a writing center intrigues me, especially since I had no "idea" what the writing center was or what all those shiftless-looking people did in there as an undergrad (hence my never visiting). I think North is on the right track in at least revisiting his own idea of what a writing center is and should be after ten years of pondering. We should all reevaluate our stances (on everything) once in a while to avoid becoming stale and moldy with out-dated ideas.

I have never thought of our writing center as an "institutional conscience," but that seems an apt description of what we are at least trying to do. Bridging off of what we discussed Thursday in class, it seems that for most classes that require writing (other than composition courses), the actual act of writing is never taught or discussed. It seems, though, that instead of being "that small nagging voice that ostensibly reminds the institution of its duties regarding writing," we are a catchall for students who are lost and cannot find directions from their profesors. I've often wished that professors in other disciplines, even professors of Literature, would get as much instruction on how to create a clear and effective writing assignment that I got as a TA teaching ENGL 1010.

At the moment, I don't see us nagging anybody about any duties to writing at the moment, but I wonder if even this idea is too . . . well, idealistic. The kind of nagging North proposes would require an audience with working ears, and that would require some kind of cross-discipline community of faculty, and this seems to be the same discussion that I've seen in articles from the 1970s. Disenchanted yet?