The two articles we read today for class today and our discussions with Trixie really challenged my previous notions of a writing center's position in relation to the university as a whole. I had always considered the Writing Center as complimentary to students' courses and academic writing, but I never really considered the repercussions of the Writing Center as an influential entity.

By associating a lack of innocence with the Writing Center and the students it advises, Grimm challenges the idealistic notion that the Writing Center is a safe-zone of sorts where students are treated with perfect openness in order to develop their writing and thinking. As Writing Centers have become more influential, the consultants therein must think critically about what it means to learn and teach, and must be weary of their own approach to the needs of students.

Grimm’s emphasis of a “swiss-cheese” approach to knowledge building as a possible solution to this issue is intriguing. Each student’s unique needs can be met best by identifying areas of knowledge from which to build at the beginning of a session. Though it is naïve to think that every student will come out of the writing center with a better outlook than before, an approach such as this can guarantee that at least every student will have the chance to identify areas that can be developed without enforcing any sort of authority or overbearing influence over the student in a session