Devil's Advocate

Hartwell

After finishing this weeks readings I find myself playing Devil's Advocate again! Hartwell ascertains (with lots of research to support his ideas) that formally teaching formal grammar is not necessary, and correlates it to a pool player mastering physics before even picking up a cue (216). Certainly a ridiculous concept, however, there is a time and a place to add to one's knowledge once the basics have been established. It isn't absurd to think that a study in physics, say: action/reaction, angles and speed, could have a positive affect on a decent pool player. I know I have used my knowledge of angles to hasten my game. While I don't believe that kindergarten is the place for formal grammar lessons, I do believe that it should be sprinkled throughout the curriculum. Hartwell uses possessives as an example, saying that students inherently know "Abby's duck." Perhaps verbally this is true, but students do not inherently know that there needs to be an apostrophe, and where to put it. My son's second grade class just finished a section on possession rules, and not once did I find it unnecessary. As I believe there is a place for the 5-paragraph essay, I believe there is a place for formal grammar education. With that said, I also do not think that these are the only ways to teach or write, but I do believe that they are an integral part of learning to write, and while they may have no appreciable merits, they are important.

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As an English major I would like to express my shock regarding the rise in interest in Composition due to the $ it generated for universities. However, as a former business student/ employee, I can honestly say that I am not surprised at all, only glad that it did not take another 60 yrs to happen. The only thing that is sad, and yet again not surprising, is the scramble for power over weighed the notion of authentic research, leaving a lot to still be realized.


Britton

WOW! Did he cover an immense amount of info in 22 pages! I really enjoyed his paper. Towards the end he writes about what beginner writers should know. As he systematically addresses them, he implies (or sometimes blatantly states) that many of these things are known at such an early age- almost innately. As I have seen from my son's classes (yes, I have noticed I have been writing my kids a lot, but they are at the ages a lot of this info is referencing-4 and 8) that they all really enjoy writing, even in kindergarten, when many of them only had doodles representing words. Now as confident writers they are learning the "rules", and they all still really love writing. I believe somewhere down the road this love of writing (for most) disappears, and I can help but thinking that there is a flaw in our system somewhere.