ABSTRACT
To begin, here is a brief exercise in estimation. The Writing Center Directory lists over 1720 writing centers in the United
States alone. The list includes entries for writing centers in universities, colleges, seminaries, community colleges, technical colleges, and military institutes. It also includes some entries for writing centers in high schools and junior high and middle schools, as well as entries for community writing centers. In addition, the directory includes entries for over 360 more writing centers around the world, including writing centers in Australia, Columbia, Estonia, France, India, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mongolia, and Vietnam (Writing Center Directory 2015). If each of the 2,080 writing centers listed in the directory employs two tutors each hour of an eight-hour day for five days each week, each center generates 80 hours of talk about writing every week. Each week, then, all the writing centers listed in the directory together generate about 166,400 hours of talk about writing every week. And that means each academic year, fall and spring semesters, these writing centers together generate 4,999,200 hours-nearly 5 million hours-of talk about writing. That’s over 570 years of conference talk each academic year.
