Students.

As is my way, I'm focusing on how the readings this week may or may not influence us in the classroom....I happened upon this in the Gronbeck: "To be maximally useful to our students, to outfit them for the communication environment of our time, we'd bette rbe training them to shred multimeidated work with equal [to their ability to shred literature] expertise, because nobody else is" (27). A couple of things strike me here, and I'm pretty sure I'm both right and wrong in one way or another, so it seems like a good idea to post for the discussion board.

A. I assume when he says, "audience" he means us--that is, what he also calls "rhetoricians"...whether this is true or not, I kind of subsume "teachers of composition (and communication, Mark;))"

So if he's addressing us, then this is a sort of call to arms for both our methods and content and goals for the students.

2. Not only, then, are we to teach writing/lit criticism, we should include all versions of communication in this critical structure.

This seems like something that WOULD be useful to the students, but, on the other hand, are we really all qualified to teach what I'm assuming as all levels of rhetoric, within all mediums? I guess I'm just a wee bit unclear as to what he really thinks we should be doing, if he really is talking to "us".

3. The whole "because no one else is". This seems a bit too much like "crisis" talk. Does he mean folks outside rhetoric departments? Does he mean people who aren't from Iowa? People who aren't him? I guess I find it hard to believe that NO one else is doing this sort of educating.

Perhaps this will become clearer once the responses come pouring in, or I have time to reread. Thanks social-types

A