On Discourse and Diversity and Pomo Blues

First I would like to address something Erika said in her blog. She asks "how practical is it to teach students to deviate from the standard?" I don't think we should just focus on the practicality of teaching students to deviate from the standard. The fact of the matter is that if no one in history deviated from the standard, we could still be without the wheel. I think we all recognize that a change needs to be made not in just teaching composition, but the whole academic institution needs change. Honestly, we cannot change the system on our own. We need the help of our students. We need them to understand that deviation from the standard is the only way to start this change. Maybe it is time for people to realize that Standard American English isn't the be all end all dialect of academic writing. The academy is so rigid, maybe it is time for other aspects of American language and culture to be given a chance to find footing in the the academic world. In order to do this, we need to start the change by introducing these ideas to the students. Ask more of them then just five paragraph essays and mimicked sonnets. Challenge them to reach farther. Ask them to scare us, the teacher. Don't let them rest in the familiar. And don't let ourselves rest in the familiar.

On Pomo Blues

I do agree that meaning can be and often is socially constructed. Therefore, personal narratives often have ties to social definitions. But I still think that there is hope for the personal narrative because not all people experience events, ideas, readings in the same way. It becomes personal when we internalize the events and make sense of them with societal definitions. Where it becomes tricky is when you encounter a student who is not ready to analyze these things deeply. Not only that, but it is easier to assign the generic topic and go with convention, because then you, the teacher, don't have to think. That is the problem.