My first blog, I tried not to make it into an essay

Are we there to improve the paper or the writer’s skill? This to me is an easy question—we are there to improve the ability of the writer. All of us had to prove that we had some skill at writing in order to work in the Writing Center. If all we had to do was use those talents to improve other people’s papers it would amount a less detectable form of plagiarism. In the end we would not be doing any tutoring, we would only be editors. In order to create any lasting benefit, we must focus first on the writer’s abilities to clearly state and support their ideas on paper. Even if we know that the paper could be made better by our editing it, it would serve no purpose other than earning the student a grade that they did not earn.
The next question does not have as easy of an answer. Should we, as tutors, help improve a bias, discriminatory, or other wise hate filled paper? This is a difficult question full of emotional and ethical problems. However, if we step back away from the emotional and ethical elements of the question and focus on the primary responsibility of a writing tutor, I think that the question becomes a lot easier to deal with. A tutor is not a counselor, police officer, or a politician; it is not our responsibility to console, enforce, or represent any beliefs or ideas that we encounter in another students paper. As writing tutors it is our job to try to improve the writing skills of any student that comes into the center and asks for help.
When the question is reexamined with this single purpose in mind—to help the writer improve—then it becomes clear that what the paper is saying does not matter, even if what is said makes us want to run the paper and maybe even its author through the shredder. As tutors we should not focus or care about the beliefs or ideas presented in a paper. Instead, we should focus on the students writing skill, both what that have mastered and what they need to work on.
Focusing on the writer also has a side benefit in this situation; it distances us from the uncomfortable ideas and beliefs that may be expressed. Because we are not working directly with the idea, trying to make the best argument and present it in the best possible way, we do not have to take any ownership of that idea. I know that it is a fine distinction between presenting an idea and helping someone else be able to present the idea in the best possible way. Yet, that small difference can also provide some comfort in what can become a very uncomfortable situation.
As tutors, we must learn to accept that others will not always see things the way that we do. We probably will not even agree on the answers to these and others questions. But that is okay, we can learn from each other, and we can try to pass on some of that acceptance to others by showing them that there is no single correct answer for a paper. In the end it only matters how their particular answer is presented and supported.