"Rhetoric and Reality:" Executive Summary Ch. 3

When reading chapter 3 of Berlin's book and other chapters, too , I thought I should have been more informed on the origins of the discipline I am studying; that was the initial reaction I had and I believe others will have similar reactions. Chapter 3 of his book chronicles the proliferation of the discipline of English in the college institution between 1900-1920: There were several varying definitions of what exactly the end English studies should serve. The NCTE had, by 1911, designated scholarship to be the virtue of English, but others had alternate and, arguably, better ideas. Some of the things revealed in this chapter showed how bureaucratic college can be and still is today, actually. The book is, also, very informative on how to analyze and structure the study of English in the future as it provides a rigorous interrogation of its past: Similar to today, a lot of what drove the formation of college writing courses was by the education received or needed to be received at the highschool level.

Berlin introduces, early on, three of the predominant rhetorics that shaped the inchoate study of English. Berlin explains that there were the ones who thought composition skills were needed so professionals could write adequately and not embarrass themselves in print, the ones who thought only individuals with genius skill should be further taught in the disciple and the ones who would use composition skills to refine their literary palate. Another debate was when to actually teach the composition skills. Some thought that earlier was better, while some believed waiting until the latter part on one's collegiate education was most conducive to learning and comprehending composition. There continued to be conflicts on pedagogy on almost every level. Depending on who was running a school's English department at the time, this type of conflict continued. No one school, such as Harvard or Yale, could agree on the ends teaching English should serve. Most, however, did agree that some type of skill was needed. A large part of the debate, however, was whether it should be something the common man should need to survive in a nation that was becoming more literate or whether it should be studied by those who were scholars. Berlin also explains some more of the objective ways that composition was taught and evaluated. He explains the A-E grading system and how errors in grammar/syntax/structure were determined. These, too, were also debated as the old argument of the end  English should satisfy was again voiced. There was, also,  Berlin notes, a significant event that helped create a sense of solidarity in the study of English. The first great war, WWI, created a sense of urgency to learn and understand English. The war was beneficial in a sense that it allowed for the study of English and English literature to flourish and the study, as a whole, was met with more accepting arms than previously. The efforts to study English were seen as a way to be American and keep democracy safe. This was a very monumental development in how English was received and led to greater leaps in the 20s and 30s.

[ This chapter was difficult to summarize. There were so many different schools and so many detailed developments that occurred over such a brief time that one need to read the chapter and entire book to thoroughly understand them. So if my post is hard to understand and unclear, its because I didn't feel like writing 5 pages on one chapter.]