I'm not sure what I was expecting after hearing descriptions of this book, but it might be one of the coolest "textbooks" I've ever had for a class. Macrorie's in my head right now as I'm writing this. What stipulations do I had to follow for this blog post and the ones in the future? How should I be thinking about writing about what I've read in a way the corresponds well with the class and doesn't sound cookie cutter? AH. All the things.
There were so many situations that he has described that I've felt, as a student, way too many times to count. One that sticks out to me, it being a more recent experience, was this: "I would excuse (which, the first time through, I accidentally read as execute - fitting?) the professor and his secretary their slips if the professor was not so insufferably superior" (Macrorie, 74). Insufferable. That is the word I think of when certain professors, students, etc, that I've come into contact with the last four years. I don't know if it's just an English major thing, but it's been the same case in both of the universities I've been too, in both programs. So, what is the root of the problem here? How do we change this?
On a tangent, this line also stopped me:
"I remember now that when Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, the white, college-educated mayor of Memphis spoke hypocrisies in Engfish and the black garbage workers spoke truth eloquently" (Macrorie, 51).
The word "dialect" is what popped into my head as I read that section. I rarely think of it in conjunction with the English language and generally apply it in my head to indigenous tribes that may be found somewhere in Africa or the lesser inhabited parts of Asia. I never thought of the different regional language quirks in our country as different dialects; it seems too foreign a word. But it fits incredibly well, especially in relation to the above passage. Why do our accents, our words, all change depending on what part of the country we were born in? What sort of culture influences them? And why do we sometimes feel uncomfortable in the unknown parts (to us) of our country where the language is still the same? My mind kept spiraling, and I kind of want to take another linguistics class, on that note.
Looking forward to finishing the book.
I like your idea of so many of these insufferable instances we face in our academic careers. It seems like there are more of these than generally enjoyable ones. If only we could compile our best experiences and discard all the rest for one great year of college. Unfortunately that's not how it works and we must endure the best and worst our education has to offer. What to expect of the academic average as it were is far too unclear.
ReplyDeleteThe linguistics discussion is also interesting. I wouldn't have even thought of the change in dialect between intra-national cultures without first taking the linguistics course here at MSU. It was interesting to learn that there is in fact a reason behind different social and ethnic groups speaking so differently. Who knew positioning of the tongue was so important to verbal expression?
I think it is interesting to think about third world countries, but beyond that I think we can even look closer. Jonathan Kozol wrote a book called "The Shame of the Nation" where he looked at how apartheid is still present in the school systems of America today. The lower income, typically more minority driven students, were told that they should try to be managers someday, that was the biggest position they could ever hold. This was juxtaposed with the higher income families where children were pressured to be doctors and lawyers. We tend to forget that even the way we talk to kids dictates what discourse community they see themselves in. Although coming from the same culture, we do not necessarily share a similar experience. Josh Lyman, a fictional character in the t.v. show "The West Wing" once stated, "Lack of opportunity is the root of all our divisions." I think this has a lot of weight in composition studies. If the only thing we have the opportunity to practice is Engfish, of course students are going to fail or feel divided from each other. We need to focus on encompassing students to share all different sorts of knowledge.
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