Montaigne, Studentessa, and Performance
The field of composition studies has worked to define and make sense of the "basic writer" for decades. In 1977, Mina Shaughnessy called basic writing the "pedagogical west," a frontier, "unmapped, except for a few blazed trails that individual teacher propose through their texts" (4). Since Shaughnessy, the work of David Bartholomae, Min Zhan Lu, Bruce Horner, and others, has expanded upon, and called into question, the term "basic writer." In this paper, rather than do away with the term altogether, I will offer a study of a writer who would be typically labelled "basic." This study will place her work beside that of an acclaimed and historical "expert," Michel de Montaigne. Through a series of close readings, I hope to illustrate the rhetorical oves from dialogue to performance that "Studentessa" (a former and anonymous student of mine) undergoes in her writing. At the same time, I will mark moments in which Montaigne reinscribes these rhetorical moves into his own writing. Ultimately, these points of intersection will reveal the richness inherent in study of writers we call "basic," and allow greater appreciation for the performative abilities of Montaigne.
The scope of Studentessa's audience, particularly with her first attempts at essay-writing, is extremely intimate. Specifically, Studentessa is talking to me, the instructor, in an attempt to answer my questions in writing. The first essay that we read in class was Richard Rodriguez's "Achievement of Desire," a biographical account of Rodriguez's education and emotional growth. For their own writing assignment, students were asked to come up with a definition of education, and to test this definition against their understanding of Rodriguez. Studentessa did put together an initial thesis about education: "Education is an essential aspect of our lives. Education is something that you share, but you as an individual can learn it for yourself." During one of our many discussions, I asked Studentessa what pieces made up "education"--were there different forms of education? In response, Studentessa came up with forms: first, of course, was "school," second, was "life experience" (which broke down into "mother wit" and "street smarts"), and third, "relationships." We talked about the importance of applying these forms to Rodriguez's experience: Did his education involve street smarts? In a revised draft, after our weekly meeting, Studentessa writes, "there is another form of education called street-smarts, these people can survive on the streets with their wit.
David Bartholomae’s “Inventing the University” represents the process of writing a student must undergo every time they composite a new piece of work. In order to properly fulfill expectations, students must interpret, pretend and assemble the language of the desired community they wish to hold as their audience. Bartholomae blames the confusion that most students undergo has to deal with the authority; the teacher assigning the writing is asking the student to take on an authority in denying the classroom setting of which they are in, while the teacher is still a higher authority present. He blames the teachers and the curriculum of which they teach for making students see writing as a tool in referral to the mode of learning in their view
The journey begins at the heart of the matter, with a street smart kid failing in school. This is done to establish some common ground with his intended audience, educators. Since Graff is an educator himself, an English professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, he understands the frustrations of having a student “who is so intelligent about so many things in life [and yet] seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work” (380). Furthermore, Graff blames schools for not utilizing street smarts as a tool to help improve academics; mainly due to an assumption that some subjects are more inherently intellectual than others. Graff then logically points out a lack of connection “between any text or subject and the educational depth and weight of the discussion it can generate” (381). He exemplifies this point by suggesting that any real intellectual could provoke thoughtful questions from any subject, while a buffoon can render the most robust subjects bland. Thus, he is effectively using logic and emotion to imply that educators should be able to approach any subject critically, even non-traditional subjects, lest they risk being labeled a buffoon.
The manufacturing of automobile parts is always dependent on the demand for new car sales which are dependent on interest rates, the health of the economy, and by the replacement parts market (Hoover's, 2014). The jobs status in America is still growing at a very small place causing would be buyers to stay in their older vehicles longer before making the plunge to purchase. So, buying activity is slower compare to years past making it even tougher for industry competers. In a competitve manufacturing market small companies can compete along with larger ones by focusing on less parts or more specialized parts. In this market manufacturing profits rely on the demand for new vehicle volume. In 2009 from the...
According to the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, "automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for those aged 3 to 33, with 43,005 (118 per day) Americans killed in 2002 alone" (Clayton, Helms, Simpson, 2006). Worldwide, vehicle accidents consist of 1.2 millions deaths per year, "behind only childhood infections and AIDS as cause of death amount people aged 5 to 30 years old" (Clayton., 2006). The annual cost of road accidents is estimated about $518 billion"(Factor, Yair, Mahalel, 2013). The fact alone of being in a moving, heavy vehicle is a danger in itself but individuals that do not wear their seat belts, talk on the phone, text, and do other distracting behavior also put themselves in even more harmful situations.
Through our class discussions of education we came across this quote by Joseph Sobran, an American journalist and writer who spent a great amount of his career working for the National Review Magazine, "In 100 years we have gone from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to teaching Remedial English in college." When asked to critically think about the meaning of this quote I concluded that our educational standards have been lowered over the years and that students in America are not as intelligent as they once were in previous years. These two thoughts brought me to the questions, what does it mean to be educated or intelligent and who gets to decide. When reflecting emotionally on how this quote made me feel I realized it made me feel
"Gulf oil spill: BP has a long record of legal, ethical violations" 8 May 2010 by McClatchy Washington Bureau.
Education, to me means the ability to obtain knowledge about the world and finding yourself through each learning experience. Through the media and the walls of a class room I have found myself being more educated in society and my self surrounds. Education is a chance for a brighter future and finding a better You. Frank Bruni’s opening question in his New York Times “Op-Ed” piece, “College’s Priceless Value: Higher Education, Liberal Arts and Shakespeare,” and James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers” both relate to my own experiences in different ways. Bruni’s article gave me a goal on what I want to become and Baldwin’s passage gave a more thorough explanation on what I have learned and achieving an identity through the questions about society. Douglass and Freire made me rethink some of my past choices and I have I realized
As a matter of fact, teen car accidents are the primary cause of death for teenagers. However, it was found that the accidents significantly decline
During the 17th century, many gothic elements have presented itself in English literature, such as the romantic hero. According to CliffNotes, the romantic hero is often rejected by societies norms and conventional values. In the novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, the reader experiences this type of character through Dr. Frankenstein, and his modern day creation, the monster. Moreover, many characteristics have shown that these fictional personalities are both similar in many ways. These uncanny resemblances paint a picture to the many literary devices, Mary Shelley uses in her captivating novel. Between these two moving character, the reader is able to experience the darken isolation, inflicted by social class and society. Also,
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth Mahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2002. 977-986
One major business incident happened in April 2010 shocked the world and caused an “earthquake” of British Petroleum (BP)’s brand image. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig owned by BP in the Golf of Mexico exploded, leading to a disastrous oil spill in this marine area. The maritime disaster caused by the explosion became the largest one in the history of the U.S. and brought huge financial and reputations losses to BP. What is worse, sealing the oil well took over five months. From the explosion of the completion of the sealing (announced by BP), over 780 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the sea, causing irreversible pollution and damage to the bio-system in this area and the world (Lofgren 2013). BP’s response, however, is considered as a crisis communication failure (Heller 2012) by some people and others believe BP’s response was effective (Mejri & de Wolf 2013).
BP oil spill caused tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico (Schrope, 2010). The BP oil spill was one of the worst disasters that have taken place. It took BP three months to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf. The BP oil spill was a disaster that was being watched by many people in the world and everyone expected BP to provide detail information about the fix and a resolution to why the blowout happened. The community wanted to know what actions BP plan to put in place to make sure this problem do not happen again. The public wanted to know about the impact the spill was having on the organisms, fishes, and other animals living in the gulf (Schrope, 2010). The public expected briefings on the cleanup efforts that plan BP was putting into place when the oil reached the shores. BP did not utilize information technology to the extent that it was available because took too long to cap off the flow of the oil.
According to the article “Traffic safety Facts”Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15-20 year olds.This shows that 2,739 15 through 20 year olds were killed because of driving unexperienced.Many teens get distracted on the roads causing them to crash . This is important because a nation wide study shows that tougher licensing laws for teenage drivers have reduced deadly accidents.
The process of writing is a path which allows the writer to emphasize on reader’s demands, and a way to exemplify different perspectives using the basic conventions in the context. Three of the most well known composition theorists present their ideas about this procedure in a way that is based on the same principle of how to write well and to pass the message wisely. Linda Flower, professor of Rhetoric at Carnegie Mellon University, believes that writing is the result of a highly individualized process. Mike Rose, a professor at the UCLA School of Education, also believes that this process is an incredibly complex learned activity procedure that leads to the foundation of a well written piece. And William Zinsser, a lifelong journalist, being notable for his work in this field, strongly believes that a writer should care about matters that are important to him or her while this process is going on. I strongly believe that these enthusiastic theorists unanimously agree that in one’s process of writing the writer should be simple, think as to speak to an audience and to adopt the rhetorical situation in order to convey a clear message.
Did you that the number one cause of death in the USA is because of accidents, especially car crashes.According to the Teen Driver article “In 2015, 2,333 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and 235,845 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.That means that six teens ages 16–19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries.”. Also, that is only 7% of the accidents but 11% is the number of accidents that happen but we don't know because the teens have not reported the accident or the police have kept it private.(So that more than one teen dies a day).But you might have