Composition at the Turn of the 21st Century

After reading the article by Richard Fulkerson, I have come to the conclusion that what and how people write is a direct result of what people are exposed to and experience. He states, in the very first paragraph, that "those large questions of who we are, what we wish to achieve with students, and how we ought to go about it" are questions raised while trying to develop a curriculum for writing. Is writing formulaic or is it social? I think it is a little bit of both, personally; however, after reading this article I am almost certain it is a result of both.

Fulkerson lists, under Analytical Scheme on page 657, four questions to successfully create a philosophy of writing to construct a composition course. These four questions are answered throughout the article. I have to admit that I did not really find anything interesting until page 655, when he discusses teachers imposing their social values in to the class; hence, CCS. When does a composition class take a turn to the political, religious, or cultural platform? It does seem difficult as a teacher not to impose my values onto a class. However, I do believe that we must be aware of our own prejudices, biases, etc., in order to be effective in the classroom. It is very easy to preach based on literature read in a class, especially if the teacher has a passion about the literature. Our writing prompts tend to sway toward our opinions, our method of teaching tends to be in one direction, and our grading is sometimes based on what we want to hear because it is comfortable for us. Are we really challenging our students to become independent readers and writers, or are we so wrapped up in our own personal agendas and egos that we are harming students by not allowing them to write to their full potential because of a grade?

Students are so concerned about grades and pleasing the professor/teacher to receive a high grade, that they tend to lose sight of what is important to them. Fulkerson states that "students are free to write their papers from any perspective they choose. They have only to make a thoughtful case for their position." However, because of that ever looming grade, students will choose not to oppose the professor/teacher. Writing is very intimate and a level of trust, respect, and comfort must be gained in order for a student's writing to be honest; but does the instructor allow for that kind of relationship to develop and prosper? Composition instructors should teach how to write, but not what to write. Topic is most times irrelevant; what is important is can a student support what he or she is discussing. Fulkerson seems to support this when he states, "Many traditional features of academic writing, such as having a clear argumentative thesis and backing it up to convince the reader, are put on a back burner." It is essential to teach the fundamentals of writing to understand writing.

Ownership of writing is another issue raised through Fulkerson's article. What influences the writing? Personal, cultural, political, religious, familial, etc. experiences have some sort of influence on an author. Fulkerson speaks about the expressive teacher. An expressive teacher may want to help students "mature and become self-aware, more reflective", or using writing as a "healing" method or "therapy", or write for "creative self-expression". Isn't composition all of these things - the more expressive the to the different types of composition, the more well-rounded the composer? Writing is an art form and those who write well project their voice without preaching. Their tone is clear as well as their message. When teaching writing, don't we want to make it attractive to students? The order of the modes of writing naturally lend themselves to begin "expressive" writing starting with personal narrative (the 'I' writing) finishing with analysis and synthesis (the 'why' writing).

Writing is a process and it must be taught as a process. Fulkerson addresses this issue at length. Teachers teach writing as a process, baby steps. Once a basic process is learned and understood, a writer can add, delete, modify the writing to fit personal needs and/or styles. New writers need guidance and the writing process is a good start. Does that mean a writer must always first brainstorm, then draft, revise, edit, and publish? Possibly. But once a writer is comfortable with his or her style of process, the writing becomes personal and exciting to the author.

I agree with Fulkerson when he states that teachers "want argument from their students" but need to be supported with data. Again, topic is irrelevant; can you support what you are saying using factual information. Argumentative and persuasive writing go hand-in-hand and are the most difficult modes of writing to complete because this writing utilizes higher order thinking skills. This is where a teacher can run into some difficulty. There does seem to be some confusion when a teacher teaches one thing and expects another. I also agree with the Fulkerson's philosophy that the teacher needs to be very clear as to what he or she expects from the students' writing. Again, new writers need guidance.

I did have difficulty with the genre section of the article. Genre is found in literature (i.e. fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, etc.). Modes are found in writing (narrative, descriptive, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, definition, etc.). I believe that mode creates genre. Take any piece of literature. Universal themes exist across the literary board; Shakespeare is a prime example. A student could take any one of the modes to write a paper in a Shakespearean genre class using any of the universal themes found in any one of the plays - power, greed, religion, politics, jealousy. Themes are found in a genre leading to discovery through writing. Literature and writing go hand-in-hand.

This entire article made me realize and reiterated three things: 1) do not impose my values/beliefs on to students if I want honest writing, 2) writing is a process to help student growth in the academic, personal, and professional world, 3) writing and literature are partners.