...some thoughts on the role of the teacher...

The Durst article tells us that since the 1990’s, scholars have increasingly argued that the teacher needs to be more and more concerned with a broad array of social, cultural, political, and economic factors. Numerous pedagogical studies, articles, and books have constructed the classroom as a political space in which the teacher has as a primary responsibility the task of introducing students to larger social issues.”

I was immediately reminded of Muriel Spark’s iconic Miss Jean Brodie and her encouragement and promotion of fascism to her special students (that had disastrous results, both for her and the students).  And it also occurred to me that any attempt by teachers to get their students interested in those larger social issues that are outside of the composition classroom is at once a form of service delivery scope creep--and job protection. 

In adopting a mentorship role, composition teachers are exceeding the requirements of the job they are paid to do: teaching students how to write. While this is not necessarily a bad thing for the students who are thus getting a richer experience and who often could benefit from shifting their paradigms, it makes the teachers that much more valuable to their institutions.  For example, I can contribute as a copywriter or as an author…the copywriter role is limiting and can be done by anyone who can  be trained to do so, the author role is not and the sphere of the rarefied few.

Durst’s conclusion, however, is that composition teachers are “in something of a rut” and clingers-on to orthodoxy.  In our exam discussion, we’ve discussed the reasons for this and have come up, collectively, with possible solutions.  One of these is better public relations, which I fully support.  But how to achieve this in the short term? (in the long term, presumably, the conservative element will naturally atrophy). The old adage about catching more flies with honey comes to mind…composition teachers and scholars have, as we’ve seen in our readings, focused on rules, grammar, and punishment.  The new generation of composition teachers need to move away from this model (like Shaughnessy suggested over 40 years ago) and make writing a desirable and fun thing. And perhaps this paradigm shift is coming sooner than we think because of the blogging tools which put creative writing in the hands of the everyman.