11. My one big problem with Inoue’s speech is that he talks a
lot about being aware of your racism and that being a significant step. This is
all fine and good certainly, but I’m a white guy who recognizes his biases and
faults. What specific practices can I implement in my life and in my classroom
to ensure that I am not perpetuating this system, that my actions match my
intentions? That is, what is the step beyond awareness?
2. Sommers spends a good portion of time in her essay
talking about the different terms her students use to describe and discuss
revising. What is the rhetorical significance of these terms as they inform
students of the writing process? And is our job as writing teachers to adjust
their vocabulary or to consolidate their terminology into whatever processes we
are teaching and combine and/or develop their pre-set strategies?
Robert,
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed both your comments on Sommers and Inoue's speech. I agree with your stance on Sommers in terms of asking for more specific explanation on how to navigate talking about the writing process. I feel that if we have a formal language that we use to discuss revision, shouldn't our students know about how we talk to each other about it as academics?
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteI love your first question, and personally I believe the author is mixing up rascim with linguistic communities. But, that's another story. Anyways, I believe in order to avoid being racist or biased, different linguistic communities could be presented in the classroom through excerpts that showcase different linguistic communities. A talk with students about how those variants are not inferior could help raising awareness to linguistic prejudice. Also, acknowledging that only because formal speech is used in academia, doesn't mean that other variants are seen as inferior, but just not appropriate in that linguistic context, just like a formal speech would not be appropriate at a birthday party, for example.