Williams, Contemporary Rhetoric

Although lengthy, this chapter was much more enjoyable to read than the first...I think it is because I actually understood much of what was being discussed (I am not very philosophically inclined), as well as I feel it contained ideas I can utilize.

Take this quiz and see if you are Classical Rhetoric, Current-Traditional, New, or Romantic...Just kidding...but it reminded me of the personality trait quiz we took last class....Any-who...

The first and main thing that stood out to me was the entire section on Current Traditional Rhetoric. This description was basically my entire school experience (from 1st grade up until the start of college) in a nutshell. I liked the term Bottom-Up Methodology and how it describes the way teaching actually occurs, "Instruction moves from small units..to larger ones, defined not by audience, aim, or even essay, but by "rhetorical modes"-description, narration, exposition, and argument(p.44)''. What this makes me think of is that, because argumentation is dropped and structure is drilled into students heads, I picture classrooms full of robotic children simply doing what they are told and not using their brains to cook (Elbow would like that connection). I know we need some structure within the classrooms, I just think that the methods that have been in place for some time are causing the youths' brain to turn to mush because they are not thinking for themselves.
When it comes to linguistics, I think that Mr. Noam Chomsky had a good idea when he felt that "any legitimate study of language must include a theoretical component...a new grammar. (p48)". And even with the way language and writing has transformed over time, I still believe that there is an appropriate way of speech and written word.
As a youth, none of my classes were writing intensive. Yes, we wrote essays and research papers, but it never seemed that we were gaining familiarity with the language or writing conventions. It just seemed like we had to write dumb papers based off of books that no one really liked (I was a stubborn child, can you tell?). For me, these writing intensive courses came into play when I went to college and that seemed logical. After all, if I am an English major, I truly do not mind writing papers, not to mention the obscene amount of $$ I am spending on the class. Now though, I wish as a middle/high school student, we were able to write more of what we enjoyed. This way maybe I would have liked writing more. I Within this section, Williams brings up the idea of a teacher having to do too much grading....is that not what a teacher does? Grade? (WTF!) I can see myself trying to implement WAC when I become an educator. If our children need to learn to write (as well as appreciate it), than as an educator I feel it is my responsibility to meet the demands. And to those people who say it "stifles an individual voice(p.77)", I think it depends on the topics that the students are writing about. If a child is given the opportunity to choose where his or her work "will go" then that voice is not being stifled.