Writing Theory Course with Dr. Souder

It was fascinating reading this week. I had never really known that English literature was not a well accepted course of study even after Shakespeare, Chaucer and Dante made their appearances. I had known that it was mandatory to study Greek and Latin. I know my high school in rural 1960's Kansas only taught Latin. My husband went to Hotchkiss, a very elite private school in Connecticut on a parr with Choate, Kent, etc., feeder schools for Harvard, etc. and he had to study Greek, Latin, French and German in high school. My brother took four years of Latin in college, while I switched to Spanish.
Nevertheless, I always conceived of German, French, and Spanish as languages as important to a well rounded education, as any other language. Considering that Latin is a dead language and the relatively small population of Greece, I would not have conceived of these languages, as more important than other languages currently being spoken in the world. The idea that literature world wide was not considered as important, as that of Greece and Roman times seems absolutely astounding. But then as I read further I came to understand not only the entrenchment of tradition, but the lack of regard for modern literature as folk stories, rather than meaningful literature, contributed to this position. Furthermore the emphasis on the law, politics and scientific persuasion apparently eclipsed the world of fiction, as a lesser form of scholarly work.
The study of composition as a separate area of study was also interesting. Certainly when I was at the University of Kansas many years ago, composition was very important, as three course were required for all liberal arts graduates in a combined course called Composition and Literature, while rhetoric was placed in a required Speech course and Philosophy in three required courses on Western Civilization. I conceived of Composition, as being able to use Grammar effectively and learned at KU the idea of making an argument through Composition.
In the nineties when I got a degree in English specializing in Creative Writing at Mills College, there was no talk of Composition, although there may have seen a freshman requirement that I was not tuned into. There was also no emphasis on Theory, Research or Literary Criticism. It was considered important to know about the times and place of the literature and to have background information about the author. Writing about the literature was centered on the students own analysis. If a critical viewpoint was considered,New Historicism, Marxism, feminism, multiculturalism, modernism and post modernism were discussed, largely from the point of view of history, structure and grammar.
When I was in high school I wrote a few book reports but did not write any other papers. In college I wrote papers for a variety of courses, but particularly in my social work, speech, history, psychology and art history classes, as well as English. Last year when going through the teacher eduction program and teaching middle school English, it became clear that all teachers were to teach reading, writing and vocabulary, not just the English teacher. Apparently from our readings, England today expects college students to be taught Composition, as a part of all college classes, rather than having a requirement for freshman composition. Even in this school of graduate English at CSU Pueblo, there appear to be differences among the faculty, as to their approach to Composition, as the Reading Theory teacher spent very little time going over what made a paper particularly strong and gave vague feedback, while the professor teaching Toni Morrison, assigned many papers and gave detailed feedback and opportunities for revisions, to help the student really focus on the writing process.
I do believe that having a freshman composition course is a good idea, in order to continue to build writing skills and a uniform understanding of the writing process. I know in my work as a social worker, writing has been incredibly important, whether writing adoption home studies or court reports to terminate parental rights, I have needed to be able to write with clarity at least. My husband has a master's degree in chemistry and works in safety and industrial hygiene, however he believes that his major job duty is writing extensive reports. To be able to write is a necessary part of employment in many jobs today, so colleges have an obligation to teach Composition for the working world that students will eventually join. Making a factual argument is an essential ability in the work world.