Laura Smith Questions, 6/27

1) In Bartholomae’s essay, he presents the argument that criticism is an essential element of a composition curriculum and the revision process. However, as he himself mentions, this creates the potential for an issue of authority, where the teacher becomes “the maniacal English teacher with the red pencil” (17). How could we counter the difficulties of perspective and privilege this might create in the classroom? As teachers, are we performing the criticism of students’ work, or simply encouraging them/leading them into viewing themselves through critical lenses?

2) Fulkerson advocates for (and says that many theorists agree on) a rhetorical axiology when teaching writing. However, he never quite defines what rhetorical success looks like, and even includes an example of where he and his students disagreed on the rhetorical effectiveness of a student paper (422). He observes that how an audience receives a work also engages with other axiologies such mimetics or their own preferences for writing to be expressive. If we are basing our goals for our students on how their work is understood by other people, what does that look like in practice? How are we actually defining success?