Composition: History & Theory: 1900 - 1919
English Journal, Volume 8, No. 4: 1919
Description
CONTENTS
The Value of Measurements (Flora E. Parker, S.A. Curtis): This article pairs an essay by a Detroit, Michigan high school teacher who is displeased with grading scales with a rebuttal from Detroit’s Supervisor of Educational Research, who argues for scales as the only accurate means of evaluating students and supervising teachers (and/or teaching practices). This article is interesting because Parker gives the Hillegas grading scale and sample essays to “a class largely composed of fine, brutally frank Junior boys” who can’t believe that certain essays (devoid of content) would score highly because of mechanical correctness (204). (Is this an early “norming session”?) She thinks too many areas are ignored by scales, including the abilities of foreign students (206). Parker wants to fight the machine [Literally: Parker doesn’t want teachers to be replaced by a “machine-like” system (208)]. Curtis counters Parker’s argument using patriotic rhetoric in the process, going as far as calling a classroom without a clear goal a form of “Russian Bolshevism” (215). Another Experiment in Problem Teaching (A. Bess Clark): This article introduced the concept of “problem teaching,” which repeated throughout this issue. Problem teaching gave students “real world” applications for their writing. Clark talks about creating a newspaper with her students and shares how they got into reading newspapers and magazines (to learn basic conventions). This mode of teaching seemed to be a trend at the time, especially volunteerism and community action due to the war effort… Charting Errors (Margaret Bell Merrill): Merrill, a high school teacher, essentially blames grade school teachers for grammatical and mechanical errors and shares her failed attempts to correct and chart her students’ errors over the course of a year (an empirical study). She talks about socialization in the school and being open with her students about the study, which was interesting (226). The Nations: A Masque (May E. Peabody): This was a one-act play about Democracy and her children converting French revolutionists and Russian peasants and preparing to fight WWI with the support of the Red Cross and young American soldiers. It was meant as a graduation play. The staging was actually quite impressive (using Red Cross flashlights for lighting at one point), but the play could be slightly eerie for some readers nonetheless. Sex Education through Literature (Sarah J. McNary): This is an article about imparting virtue to students through “good reading”. It’s amusing to watch the writer avoid talking about “sex” in this article, focusing instead on how to select good works in order to avoid having the “purest gold of literature tarnished by a simper, a sly nudge, [or] an odious leer” (242). She encourages teaching literature about family life, home, and the joys of fatherhood (about which, she admits not much has been written) (245). She justifies her choices by referencing college entrance exams, but she tells teachers not to let students write about these topics…(247). Anthologies in the High School (Walter Barnes): This article was a suggestion to arrange readers by theme and mood in order to help students learn. Barnes thinks that most readers are too hard and/or boring because of college reading lists. The Eighth Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English: This section recounts what happened at the 8th annual meeting (held in Chicago on February 26-27, 1919). Elementary schools are beginning to use standardized tests (256). Vocational English is a big focus due to the advancement of the industrial industry (259). Some instructors moved to teaching literature for better citizenship (262). Problem-projects are discussed as a way of motivating students (265).
CONNECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS (Rebecca B.)
This journal made me side with Bob Connors (“The Politics of Historiography”) and his assertion that we shouldn’t have to “reinvent the wheel” in Rhetoric and Composition. The idea of problem-teaching and problem-projects that had students working with real word situations and contexts in order to be better citizens and critical thinkers (an enlightened masses) made me think of current movements in social rhetoric (eco-composition in particular). This issue also made me think of Berlin’s “Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class” because it shows that there were roots in social-epistemic rhetoric forming during this period. To quote Lydia M’s summary: “Berlin supports the social-epistemic rhetoric in composition classrooms because its goal is to uncover the workings of ideology in students’ lives,” and this is what I see happening in the discussion of the war effort, volunteerism, and the need to get students to recognize propaganda in the notes of The Eighth Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English.
The first article in this issue that deals with scales and grading also made me think of “The Rise and Fall of the Modes of Discourse” as Flora Parker dealt with the issue of grading scales that used the four modes of discourse as a way of evaluating students. Even in 1919, she found the modes suspect because they didn’t allow room for creativity and student personality. She seemed to be more interested in purpose. I wonder where she was when “Writing with a Purpose” came out and heuristics moved toward purpose-based approaches to writing.
Even though Kitzhaber dealt with the time period slightly before 1919 in Rhetoric in American Colleges: 1850-1900, I could definitely see the influence of college reading lists in this issue. High schools also seemed to be agonizing over what to do with student virtue in the classroom (the Sex-Ed article) and how to fit that into what needs to be covered from these reading lists. I also see a trickle-down effect in this issue. It was surprising to see high school teachers blaming grade school teachers for grammatical and mechanical issues. Mechanical correctness (although not the concern of each instructor in this issue) still remains the primary concern of some, especially Margaret Merrill and her usage charts.
Irony: In our discussion of Composition-Rhetoric: Backgrounds, Theory, and Pedagogy, it was noted that between 1900 and 1930 (During the Dark Ages of Composition in college classrooms), composition was referred to as “degrading hackwork, an apprenticeship to higher literary studies” (Connors 100). The funny thing is that I don’t see that issue coming up in regards to high school composition. Teachers seem to have more freedom when working with literary texts and/or writing assignments that get students to get outside of the classroom. This begins to change with the introduction of standardized tests (for teacher and student evaluation) which, the administrators argue, is okay because teachers can still do whatever they want as long as their students can achieve basic goals at the end of the year. I sense trouble ahead.
Berlin’s chapter “The Growth of the Discipline: 1900-1920” in Writing Instruction in American Colleges, 1900-1985 obviously applies to this issue. I do see transactional rhetoric happening, again, in the problem-projects, but I also see a growing concern for foreign students in relation to standardized testing/scales. The influence of WWI is unavoidable at this point, but it seems to be moving toward patriotism and civic engagement in this issue of English Journal.
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3/13/09