Losing Reconstructing My Voice

Losing Reconstructing My Voice

"When schools fail… societies begin to fall apart" (79)

 

Did anyone else get chills down their spine when reading that statement? If you didn't, what the hell are you doing in this class? Williams, consciously or subconsciously, seems to construct two paradigms of rhetoric and composition that we can work with. And because of the Star Wars buff in me, let's label these two paradigms Dark Side and Light Side.

The Dark Side uses the efficiency/economic model. The Dark Side sees value in using rhetoric and composition as a tool to produce productive worker (non-thinking) bees. Economics is its father. One of the goals of the Dark Side is to eliminate thought/voice and, according to their model, the best way to stifle/supplant voice is to change/mold rhetoric and composition to obey the purpose of production and consumption. No one in this model wants voice or thought; it challenges power structures and status quo. We lose our voice we can be controlled.

The Light Side is quite different. It sees its purpose as to dismantle academic writing insofar as academic writing operates in the efficiency/economic model that suppresses/supplants voice. Williams is wrong to suggest, as he does on page 85, that "The real danger lies in the prospect that some teachers, once they close their classroom doors, are so shut off from the communities they serve that they aim to produce anarchists and scofflaws (whatever that is) rather that contributing members of society". This illustrates a fundamental misunderstanding of politics and the systems that operate on an everyday basis.

For the past 40 years there has been a shift in American thinking/thought process from FDR New Deal sense of community to Barry Goldwater individualistic brand of conservatism. These professors have a monumental / colossal task at hand – shifting the balance of power back in the direction of common sense Progressive/Liberal ideology. This is the core of the conflict. This is what Williams, to this point, seems to be missing – though maybe he is leading us to this final destination. How is rhetoric and composition used? Why does our ability to write continue to decrease?

if we have learned nothing to date in Julie's class I hope we've learned this: silent classrooms are a serious obstacle to learning. So is silencing our voice