Open admissions students tend to be highly oral. Their modes of thinking are different from the modes of thinking demanded in the highly literate world of college. They can learn the more literate modes of thinking, however, but this requires special awareness and effort on the part of their teacher. (Author/RC)

Sketches the historical movement from orality to literacy that Walter J. Ong theorizes, applying it to basic writing instruction for open admissions students. Suggests that teachers first concentrate on narrative and rhetoric to develop writing about particularized details, saving sentence control exercises such as sentence combining for…

Using the pedagogical principles of Theodore Gross as a basis, suggests a purpose and content for general education. Stresses the importance of developing critical thinking skills, the role of intellectual discrimination in moral decision making, and the efficacy of oral-aural pedagogy, especially with urban open-admissions students. (DMM)