Non-Directive Writing Centers...

...are like Cross-Fit: looks impressive, but mostly ineffective.

I'm already falling out of the habit of sending my students to the Writing Center.  My international students especially come back from there with no greater understanding of English organization or grammar than when they first entered.  Look, guys, I understand that grammar is a "lower"-level concern, but that doesn't mean it's not a concern!

I can cover grammar principles all day in class with students, but lectures and workshops can only do so much--some students need one on one attention to learn most effectively, which I as an instructor logistically cannot give to every single one of them.  That is the great mission of the University Writing Center.  But if these Centers refuse to explain where the indefinite article goes, then who will?

Likewise, some American students just need to be nudged in the right direction, because that's how they learn best--but others need to be told explicitly what they are doing wrong, or they'll never know!  I can't tell you the number of times I've had a student actually straight-up thank me for telling them explicitly what's wrong with their paper and what to do instead, because they had no idea before, and they kept getting bad grades, but none of their other teachers would ever tell them why!  I'll be generous: doubtless these prior teachers took a hands-off, "non-directive" approach based off of some misbegotten idea that "non-directive" is intrinsically more "liberating" and/or "egalitarian," as opposed to just frustrating and unhelpful.

I say again: logistically, as an instructor, I can't meet with every single student and give them the individual help that they need--but the Writing Center can!  So when they don't, it's especially frustrating.

Even more frustrating: I worked at a Writing Center once myself, at Utah.  I'm well aware of the great internal debate in that field: Are we editors or mentors?  Do we show them what to do, or show them how to figure it out on their own?

False Binary.  The answer is both.  We strive to be friendly and egalitarian, yes, but above all else we strive to be helpful.  We try to teach a person to fish, not just give them the fish, yes--but teaching someone to fish still involves explicitly demonstrating how to bait the hook and fling the rod!  We don't fix their papers for them, of course--but we still explicitly show them how to!  Where on earth did we get it in our heads that leaving students to figure out how to write for themselves was a virtue?  They don't need to pay tuition to figure out something on their own!

My goodness, if a student has no idea how to use articles properly or conjugate correctly, then show them!  Good grammar is part of good writing--it's the last thing you worry about, but you still worry about it.  And if a certain paragraph would work better earlier in the paper than later, then point it out to them!   Part of being an effective Writing Tutor isn't just encouraging or "inspiring" them, but to actually do the hard work of rolling up your sleeves, reading through the students' papers, and teaching them how to write.