Composition: History & Theory: 1960 - 1969
College English, Volume 25, No. 1: 1963
Description
CONTENTS
How to Get Hired: Advice to New Ph.D.’s. (Richard B. Hovey): With Hovey’s “decades” of experience as guide, he offers some disheartening but timely advice about how dire the prospect of finding a job as an academic really is. With such colorful phrases as “you are more promise than fulfillment”, Hovey suggests one’s “fate” is in the hands of the institution. Nevertheless, he does offer some glimmer of hope with general insight into what to expect during the on-campus interview, which turned out to be nothing unexpected. Notes toward a New Rhetoric (Francis Christensen): A boring article based on subjective science that investigates the writing style of twenty authors. [Craig comments: The grammar lingo got so heavy, I decided to stop reading and place a cool compress on my frontal cranial plate.] A Slide-Rule Composition Course (Margaret E. Ashida and Leslie T. Whipp): The first half of this article contained statements such as, “we want the student in writing to use language in ways he nor anybody else uses it in speech” and “what the student needs to learn, of course, are the structures which a few people in a given context use”. [Craig comments: These statements can be clearly disturbed me, since I write often much like I talk. I believe my voice is an important aspect of my writing.] Yet, the point of the article is more to hammer into students how others style their writing, and then imitate it. This approach, Craig believes, has some merit. However, the “apostolic” nature of the work left him a bit worried. How to Write an ‘F’ Paper (Joseph C. Pattison): Pattison peppers readers with thirteen guidelines to aid in getting an F paper. Aural Errors in Written Expression (Kenneth Eble): This delightful article reports Eble’s frustration with students’ errors such as “low in behold” for low and behold or “taken for granite” for taken for granted. Eble writes, “The ear is an imperfect organ and the tongue a lazy one” and this wisdom just delights one throughout the piece. This article can be seen as timely because of the current texting and chatting lingo most of us see often in our classes. Eble points out, near the end, that “The reverence [for the past] is still there, but the ability to understand has vanished”.
CONNECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS (Craig M.)
The 60s was a difficult time for the United States, which is evident by just looking at the numerous leaders assassinated during the period. Nevertheless, the positive outcomes of the 50s carried over into the 60s and generated the rebellion and counterculture freedom one sees in such events as Woodstock. Although I note some of this issue is scientifically driven, there are parts that are humorous and carefree. The “feel” of the issue polarizes me as a reader; one moment, I’m buried in data and adverbial modifiers, and the next I’m howling in laughter at my chances of getting an F paper. To place this issue in context with our course, there are certainly progressive tones focused on the scientific nature of English. But also, we see the influence of the period such as the rebellious tone of Eble’s article and the humor of Pattison’s piece. My favorite piece was Eble’s work because it is reminiscent of a degree paper I worked on about texting in the classroom and the concerns that arise when students use such discourse. Further, we see how such cultural concerns still haunt us today. Then it was music; now, it is chatting and texting. Both create problems for teachers. And I’m sure the next generation of errors will be just as delightful.
Date of Upload
3/14/09