- DFW talked in a few interviews about how the hardest thing about teaching undergrads is that you have to wake them up from the “expressive” mode that they’re used to from high school
- That is, from high school, they receive the feedback of “this is good! This is good, because you wrote it”
- Whereas, as a college student, you have to realise that “it’s not just good because you wrote it.” You have to realise that a reader has limited time and attention, they can’t read your mind, they’re not interested in what you’re interested in, etc
- So idk, this is just on my mind.
- DFW also said in the interview that I’m thinking of, that the two worst kinds of students were the two extremes. On the one hand, a student who is absolutely entranced by their own stuff, and couldn’t imagine other readers not being as blown away by it as them. And the other kind who is paralysed by thinking that nothing they have to say is worth saying, that it’ll have been said before. And David says that he’s a weird blend of both of these (which sounds relatable!)