The Darkside of Academia
The first half of the Lynn assingment reads like a long lost Lucas script: A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away, Rhetoric and Composition were pillars of the academic universe until the Darkside overwhelmed and eventulally consumed what remained of the Old Republic. Its gutted and rotting carcus was replaced by the sterile, clean, and mercifulessly efficient Empire of scientific knowledge (and other disciplines closely aligned). Any and all rebels, wishing to reassert Rhetoric and Composition among the Empire's pantheon, were ruthlessly hunted down and destroyed.
But there was hope. An ancient Jedi prophecy foretold the coming of one who would bring balance back to the Academy: "...'[Composition Studies] can analyze broad social questions better than literary studies can'. This assertion of superiority leads Yoda (Schilb) to look forward to the day when composition is "not a plodding servant of other disciplines but a key FORCE [emphasis added] in the diagnosis of the contemporary world" (31).
Now, with the aide of Jedi Knights Bartholomae, Williams, Lynn, Elbow, Emig, and Schilb - guardians of the Old Republic - an alliance is being formed capable of ending the tyranical reign of the Empire and restoring peace and order to the galaxy:
But, The Reading did get me thinking of my own education and the role that Rhetoric and Composition played in
the creation of my own knowledge base
the creation of my own knowledge base
A while back in a galaxy far far away, I had this to say about composition:
ReplyDelete"Up to this point, writing has taken a back seat to reading, experience, and voice. If so, it is because writing is the culmination of literacy. The proof of our literacy. Anyone can write. It takes a combination of experience, books read, and discovering voice to become a good writer..."
If I am right, and writing is the proof of our literacy - and yet literacy can only be conjured by the most precise incantations - how on earth are we to teach this high art to others? I am looking forward to discussions and further reading a majority of which I suspect will be dedicated to just that.