I have had a kind of on-going, how shall I say...difficulty, with brevity in my responses to large topics. Some topics seem to simply demand time and attention and output. My Philosophy instructor last fall notated on one of my papers: "Go for pith..." I didn't even know what the word meant. He went on to say that his class and these topics and minds we were to respond to required a simple, breathing forward motion - he said think of it like swimming - he said we wouldn't go much below the surface, and we certainly wouldn't get to the bottom of it.
I was taken aback: Pith and Aristotle. Pith and Camus. How can we apply pith to these people and this content?!!?
I took the "Go for pith." to mean: 'get down to it, - briefly, concisely, and then move on...
It is a revolutionary concept for me - and so again, I will say that I am making this my praxis this semester - These brief essays (readings), and I hope, brief responses will lend well to anchoring this idea of getting to the crux in a short or small space.
In English 1A, my professor told me "Cut out the tour guide language." To me, that meant, "Tell the reader what you want to say." Without practice, it is impossible to be concise with your writing. Many write the same way that they speak, and it is a very bad habit. I believe that with practice, your brief responses will become just as effective as your long responses. This will display a true evolution as a writer and a critical thinker. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteI think this idea of Pith is paramount in the educational process. The idea of just tainting the information in and moving on is what we must do when there is so much information being throw at us. There is no way for us as students be able to comprehend and make a judgment on every statement that we hear, so we must just keep swimming through the pool of knowledge.
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