I agree that FYC classes should teach the “background” of writing, writing studies. This way, students (especially writing majors) can understand why we are prompted to write the way we do. In early schooling years, we are taught to write writing for specific genres, but rarely are we given the historical context and how these structures and genres came to be. As students get older, it is important to always demonstrate the “why” to almost everything. Not only for curiosity, but because it will make more sense to know, why we separate paragraphs, why we have an introduction, a body and a closing, etc.
Usually after students move on from a first-year composition class, the students leave with a refresher of what they used to write in high school, and in most cases, these writing assignments do not correlate to the student’s major tasks. I remember taking my fyc course and doing one argumentative essay, one analysis essay, and a narrative essay. At the time I thought the work I was doing for the class was preparing for the rest of my writing courses, however ever since that class I have never written one of those essays again throughout my college career. Especially, since I am an education major, the writing “genre” I am taught is to write lesson plans, which is not necessarily composed of paragraphs. I understand that having the knowledge of writing these essays can benefit me outside of my career, in rare occasions, but personally I would have appreciated to learn more of the history of writing and the “why” of many things.
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