Writing Instruction Timeline Response

I think the timeline reveals that there is a very strong relationship between writing instruction and cultural change. In each of the time periods, there is at least one good example of how cultural change determines writing instruction. In early years, when the the Morrill Federal Land Grant of 1862 established public universities, people began to focus on applying science to economic problems. As a result, the National Education Association promoted Harvard's scientific writing, or what is today's “current-traditional rhetoric." From 1900-1917, only 4% of people attended college. As a result, highschool curriculum pushed vocational training writing, and there was much less emphasis on literary studies. From 1917-1944, events such as war and the Great Depression caused society to focus more on the individual's potential. As a result, creative writing began to boom. Basically, it can be safely assumed that the culture sets the agenda for writing instruction priorities.

The teaching of writing in schools and colleges enacts a "scene of struggle over competing claims about the purposes of education, more specifically about the society the school and college should advocate and the kind of individuals they should encourage." This was especially true during the early 1900s. Harvard and Yale disagreed on who should be taught literature. Yale prefered to cater to a few select students, while Harvard aimed to teach all students "good language habits." This reveals that while our culture feels literature studies are important, it disagrees over who they are important for, which shows that we often have issues with class struggle. This is true even today, as highschools in impoverished areas tend to focus more on vocational training and less on college preparatory curriculum.