response to Limerick

One problem that Patricia Limerick describes in her piece is the inability of students to ask questions regarding academic readings. She says in every other form of communication, when people don't understand what is being said, they ask questions. Within academic discourse students are unable to ask professors questions for fear of being called dumb or stupid. According to Limerick this is because professors like to think that the way that they write is so sophisticated that only those with extreme intelligence can understand the literature. If students were able to clearly understand academic writing, it would, in many ways, dumb down the intelligence of those who wrote the article.

I completely agree with Limerick that academic writing can be very wordy and tough to understand. I also think that many within the discourse community write in such a way that allows him or her to feel smart and intelligent. The writings, in my opinion are done to build the self-confidence of the writer, not inform the reader.