Monday, January 26, 2009

Schultz's "Elaborating Our History" - Badovinac

Schultz's essay focuses on both prominent works of composition that were written in the 19th century and works that existed on the fringe, with emphasis on the importance of the latter. Schultz's primary argument is that these harder to find theories, which closely resemble much of modern theory, have been available for years and yet, because of their radical content, have not been put into practice until the 20th century. Schultz also confronts the old ideas of learning by rote and the ideas that students must be baby-fed literary theory through "memorizing and rules," mainly because teachers assumed that English must be taught the same way as a foreign language (14).

There was also a strong feeling in the text of pitting authors' ideas against one another: Morley vs. Frost vs. Walker, in which Walker is painted as the old theory guru who is out of touch with the modern writer. Though I mostly agreed with Schultz on her ideas that "the practice of writing" is just as important, if not more important, than learning the mechanics of writing (16) I didn't see what might be wrong with practicing as you learn. I agree with John Rippingham's comment that "The theory and idiom of the language must first be attained; for who can express his ideas by words the relative dependency of which he has not ascertained" (15). The more language that a person learns, the more clear and expressive thoughts can be, and to negate the importance of learning the basic rules can be dangerous. 

I agree with Morley that too often ideas and expressions can be taught without students knowing that they are learning, but that is the failure on the part of the educators, not the idea of teaching mechanics. I disagree with Morley that "the pupil should first gain thoughts, clear conceptions of things, and then learn their names--this is nature's process with the infant" (15). Infants learn through touch and association. You hand them a bottle and say bottle. Easy concept. But ideas cannot be touched, and they cannot be explained without language, and language cannot be effective unless it is understood. Perhaps spelling and grammar should wait, but language should not be withheld.

Frost seems to bridge this gap between the ideas of Walker, who supports the ideas of "exposition, argument and narrative," where "personal values experience" is not important, and those of Morley: "Frost maintained that at the same time that young students were learning grammatical principals they could write original compositions." His views were very similar to what I was taught, write with your right brain first and then bring in your left brain after your ideas have been expressed (18-19). 

What I am coming to understand about these assigned texts is that there are some very black and white positions in the academic world, and I have always felt that gray is the more realistic and rational approach. A hundred years is a long time to do the same thing, but to go to the opposite side of the bench and teach against what has already been laid down seems ludicrous. What could be wrong with combining approaches and finding a way to reach as many students as possible, especially that which concerns students whose intent after graduation is not to pursue English studies.

I enjoyed how Schultz did not limit herself to pursuing any one idea, and she also stepped outside of the box and cited a science teacher's view on teaching, and how that could benefit teachers of composition. It's advantageous to have the option of viewing composition from many angles.

No comments:

Post a Comment