This week, I was tasked with reading “Rhetoric & Composition” by Janice M. Lauer. In all honesty, I am not typically a fan of academic articles; however this chapter spoke to me in ways that made a rather difficult read easy to digest. In essence, this journal told the origins rhetoric and composition while explaining the strides we’ve made in this field over the past 60 years.
The most interesting part of learning bout the history of composition and rhetoric is that it’s journey is very similar to my own. Before pursuing my Master’s Degree in English Writing Studies, I was a Psychology Major with minors in both Philosophy/Religion and Art History. Since this concept has been interdisciplinary since its inception, being prevalent in fields such as psychology and sociology (Lauer 2), it should be unsurprising to witness my pivot from that field to this one. Rhetoric is a concept heavily utilized in psychology courses, which is partially where my love for it began. Though the field is full of hard facts and truths, it was the idea of subjectivity and interpretation that piqued my interest; and it was the through the use of rhetoric that one could discover the perspective of their peers.
My minor in philosophy had already exposed me to the origins of rhetoric, but discovering it from a writer’s perspective is surprisingly refreshing. I found it interesting that scholars essentially taught situational awareness in rhetoric: “…and that introducing the notion of kairos (the right or opportune moment for certain arguments) encouraged the construction of a full composition curriculum with different aims of writing” (Lauer 4). Situational awareness is definitely one of the aspects of rhetoric that we take for granted. It seems obvious, for example, that you wouldn’t discuss things like “the benefits of fire” to a room full of house fire survivors, but it’s something that’s foundational in a newer form of rhetoric that we’ve developed. In that same vein, understanding audience seems like a relatively new concept despite the emphasis modern education places on it. I wouldn’t have guessed that this concept wasn’t heavily published until the 1960s (Lauer 9), especially with the importance of rhetoric dating back to the era of great philosophers like Socrates and Plato. This makes me question the discovery and utilization as empathy in writing. If the importance of audience wasn’t heavily discussed in previous eras, I wonder how many tone deaf papers had been published at the expense of the less educated.
This paper genuinely spoke to me in a way that I’m unfamiliar with when it comes to academic papers. Louise Wetherbee Phelps described rhetoric as a human science (Lauer 6) and I completely agree. Rhetoric throughout this article has proved itself as more than a method of communication, and slightly proves itself to be an art form, primarily focused on the art of communication. With all of the factors present in active communication, it’s no wonder that rhetoric has so many dimensions to be studied.
I will end today’s blog with this: one quote from this writing genuinely spoke to me. “fundamental misconception which undermines so many of our best efforts in teaching writing: if we train students how to recognize an example of good prose, (“the rhetoric of the finished word”) we have given them a basis on which to build their own writing abilities. All we have done, in fact, is to give them standards by which to judge the goodness or badness of their finished effort. We haven’t really taught them how to make that effort” (Lauer 7). I cannot emphasize the importance of this ideology. Harsh critiquing from educators who simply had different writing styles has stunted my ability and motivation to revise as a writer. The idea that the teacher alone holds the standards to a student’s success as a writer is diabolical, and leads to many students failing to pursue writing as a passion simply because their teacher has a power trip. There needs to be a balance of power in a classroom. When we start teaching students how to teach themselves, then we have created a generation of critical thinkers and savants.
