The product of a course at the University of Pittsburgh, this book offers educators the opportunity to see how the acts of reading, writing, and thinking that characterize work in academia appear to those students who lack adequate preparation for such work--namely, basic writers. The introduction to the book presents an overview of the course and…

A discussion of the challenge and promise of honors courses precedes an examination of an American History honors class composed of 24 high school juniors and seniors selected by one or more sets of criteria. The students came from well educated parents who raised comparatively small families, 13 were either first born or only children, and all…