[New-Poetry] MFA

[David Graham]

And I guess I'm also one of the lucky--I won't say "few," because I don't
see much evidence of its accuracy--who studied in a program that doesn't
resemble the cartoons we typically see presented.

As I've said, I think my MFA program, as it was constituted 25-30 years ago
at least, could have been improved in a number of ways.  I still value the
experience and am not sorry I attended.

For what it's worth, having attended many AWP annual conferences and
participated in the Pedagogy Forums presented there, I suspect that the
teaching of creative writing is generally a lot better than it was when I
went through the MFA.  Of course, the majority of creative writing
instruction in this country occurs outside of MFA programs; and even within
the MFA realm, the highest profile programs may not be typical.


On 10/2/06 10:06 AM, "TheOldMole" <tad at opus40.org> wrote:

> I guess I'm one of those lucky few who studied with people who became my
> idols, one in an MFA program and the other as an undergraduate.


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David Graham
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