Past Experiences as a Writing Center Tutee

In his essay "The Idea of a Writing Center" North exemplifies frustration with the perceived expectations of a Writing Center.  It is not a place for those who write poorly and need extra attention to be caught up to the rest of the class, but instead it is a place for writers to enhance their writing by having a companion by their side in the tedious and lonely process of writing.  North strongly adverses the idea that a Writing Center is a place for students to drop off their papers and have them proofread.  Likewise, teachers have a notion that the Writing Center is only beneficial to students with poor grammar skills.  My experiences at the Writing Center both at my high school and at the University of Richmond have been more positive than what North describes.  At the University of Richmond I have gone to the Writing Center about five or six times, visiting a different tutor each time.  Many times I hand my paper to the Writing Consultant and sit next to her as we read through my paper aloud to correct grammatical errors, once the Writing Consultant read my paper to herself as she fixed my mistakes.  But to their defense, I spent hours creating outline after outline, then rough draft after rough draft before I went into the Writing Center with my nearly completed work.  When I have gone to the Writing Center in the past, I'm guilty of just what North criticizes- the image of the Writing Center as a "fix-it" shop.  The most beneficial time I went to the Writing Center was when I believed I completed my paper and needed some finishing input before I handed my paper in the following day.  The assignment was to compare two challenging novel.  I knew that I had made a stretch for one of my points, but I figured I had made sufficient support after working on it for so many days.  Once the Writing Consultant read until my last point, she told me that she wasn't going to read any further because  either my last point was not relevant or my thesis was needed to be changed entirely.  She gave me advice about how to resolve my issue considering the essay was due in less than 24 hours.  Although I felt very frustrated and overwhelmed, I knew that had I gone to the Writing Center while I was in the process of writing- knowing that I was not comfortable with my points- I would have created a better writing piece.  In addition, I would have eliminated a great amount of the stress I felt as I scrambled to change my thesis and parts of my essay without starting from scratch if I had talked about my thesis and possible points of support with another person before I began writing. What I found the most intriguing about North's article was that he ended with the fact that the idea of a Writing Center and a place to discuss ideas has been around since Socrates first opened up a shop in the Ancient Grecian times.