Composition: History & Theory: 1950 - 1959
College Composition and Communication, Volume 1, No. 4: December, 1950.
Description
CONTENTS
Developmental Writing (Francis E. Drake): This article focuses on how teachers can relieve themselves of the “drudgery” of grading papers and transfer the “burden of correction” to students (3). It is a program initially designed to close the gap between USAF officers and their men. Apparently, orders were being misunderstood because of the differences in writing ability (and therefore, reading ability) between these two groups. A Program for Improving the Writing Skill of Technical Students (John S. Bowman): The program for improvement Bowman speaks of is really just a proficiency test with a remedial course attached for those who score below a predetermined floor. The article lays out how the test is given and graded. That’s about it. In Chapter Five of Rhetoric and Reality, Berlin talks about the “rhetoric of the meritocratic professional, instruction designed to enable students to meet the ‘requirements of writing without embarrassment to the institution granting them degrees’” (107). This is one of many things that may come to mind when reading through Bowman’s “No Engineer Left Behind” plan. The Freshman is King; or, Who Teaches Who? (Kenneth L. Knickerbocker): This is an article about what is and what is not considered to be acceptable “in everyday speech.” It’s an attempt at a kind of scientific-like research (11). It’s just a survey. A number of expressions “about which there is a great deal of controversy” are presented to a number of students and professors (11). The acceptance or denial of the expressions is recorded and reported by group in an attempt to measure the “margin of linguistic and syntactic liberalism” that exists between professors and students (15). Editorial Comment (Chas. W. Roberts): He’s basically just asking for money here. He does lay out the schedule for the next meeting: professional status; teaching load; the problem of diagnostic and achievement tests; teacher training; and articulation with high schools.
Date of Upload
3/14/09