Coogan’s electronic writing center would, it might surprise him to discover, fit nicely into the strategy of containment that he is trying to undermine. He seems to think that decades of misunderstanding can be wiped away through sheer force of suggestion, but if that does not work he is simply left with a writing center that is contained in a virtual space rather than a physical space. For the university that wants to employ a metaphor of illness and containment this is a real improvement: no one has to come into physical contact with these unclean students and the embarrassment of a center devoted to remediation has been erased from the campus map.
As an aside, the practice of not wanting to come into contact with the student’s essay can take on a similar meaning in the context of this metaphor of illness. What may be intended to engender agency may also appear to be fear of contagion.
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