Talk:Richard Mitchell

English or classics?

I've been working through this article a bit, and I have discovered that various sources list Mitchell as either a professor of English ([1], for instance) or of Classics at Glassboro/Rowan. No single source that I have found has listed both subjects, so I can't just conclude that he held dual appointments; nor has any source indicated a chronology, e.g. 'Professor of Classics from 19xx-19xx; Professor of English from 19xx-19xx'. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Also, this article is generally lacking in sources. If any of its authors happens to see this note, would you be so kind as to cite your sources, or at least list them someplace so that I can do the in-line citation? Many thanks — Dan | talk 02:07, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

I cannot cite sources, nor prove my claim, but I was one of his students in the fall of 1974. He was a professor in the English department. (GSC also had a Communications Department.) He taught The Classics. Since I graduated in 1978, I can't tell you about GSC, did in the 1980s, other than change their name because of a huge endowment by some guy named Rowan, but if you're really into this question, you might find out another way.

Do the digging to see if the college had a Classics Department, and, if it did, when it came along. I can tell you there was no such department in the mid 1970s. As a Communications major, I knew the courses in lit and writing. Stuck taking quite a few.

BTW, he corrected other professors writings publicly through articles when I was his student. They were not happy about it either. AND, if you were a woman and wanted a good grade, dress up and look pretty. BUT he did teach me something that stuck with me for life -- "Use use. Don't use utilize." (Go for the simple words when they work.) 98.114.90.123 (talk) 22:01, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

There are a great many articles attributed to people named Richard Mitchell listed in ERIC, the "Education Resources Information Center", a database of journal articles relating to education hosted by the US Dept. of Education. One at least, "Why Good Grammar", certainly belongs to the subject of this article. I have discovered two more whose abstracts sound like him: "Teaching: The Down Side" and "We Rob Students of Power when We Fail to Teach Them English". If anyone happens to know whether these are the work of this Richard Mitchell, or has access to the texts, please say so. — Dan | talk 18:26, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Legacy

I deleted the Legacy section. Since Mitchell's writings are available for free download online, there is no way to know if interest in his work has waned. That is an unproven assertion. The status of his books in print in 2007 is dated and irrelevant. Nicmart (talk) 16:18, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

With all due respect, he was an English Professor. Glassboro State didn't have a "Classics" department. If the teacher taught anything to do with literature, he/she was in the "English Department." Anything to do with writing, and then he/she was in the "Communications Department." I had him as a teacher in the mid 70s. He taught Literature. He worked in Bounce Hall, which we just called "The English building."

And since I'm adding this based on a good memory, (and based on what he taught me has worked throughout my writing life), I have no idea if he wrote the "We Rob Students of Their Power" article, but I do remember he really hated that Glassboro State started teaching classes on how to teach ESL. So, it sounds like him, but I can't prove it was him. (He really was curmudgeonly. lol)

71.185.174.135 (talk) 21:03, 12 March 2018 (UTC)