Politics In The Composition Classroom
Maxine Hairston:
“Writing courses, especially required freshman courses, should not be for anything or about anything other than writing itself, and how one uses it to learn and think and communicate.”
“Few students, however, will do their best when they are compelled to write on a topic they perceive as politically charged and about which they feel uniformed, no matter how thought-provoking and important the instructor assumes that topic to be.”
Composition classes should be centered on the writing process to help make students better composers. When professors spend class time preaching and assigning political topics, then students cannot improve their writing.
Susan C. Jarratt:
“Dialogue is impossible, critics say, because students are so intimidated by the teacher and so determined to get good grades that they won’t risk expressing an opinion contrary to the teacher’s. In the case of teachers who are more covert, the argument is that simply raising social issues in the current climate tips off students that you’re “one of them.” They will then respond by parroting a generally left position out of fear and without thinking through the issues on their own.”
Students should feel as if they can openly engage in class discussion with their opinions. When classrooms are politically charged, then students sometimes feel as if they cannot participate. Classrooms need clear and open communication with many, hopefully all, points of view, not one-sided arguments with no available counterargument.
Hairston, Maxine. "Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing." The Presence of Others: Voices and Images that Call for Response. 5th Ed. Eds. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 69. Print.
Jarratt, Susan C.. "Pheetorical Power: What Really Happens in Politicized Classrooms." The Presence of Others: Voices and Images that Call for Response. 5th Ed. Eds. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 84. Print.