Education: The Idea of a University

The common ingredient that I find in all the writing I admire ... is something that I shall reluctantly call the rhetorical stance, a stance which depends on discovering and maintaining in any writing situation a proper balance among the three elements that are at work in any communicative effort: the available argument about the subject itself, the interests and peculiarities of the audience, and the voice, the implied character of the speaker. I should like to suggest that it is this balance, this rhetorical stance, difficult as it is to describe, that is our main goal.
-- Wayne Booth

We have been reading and discussing many education topics for the last few weeks. Re-read the introduction for the Education section in your book (49). You might also want to review what you have written so far.

Some of the questions raised by the reading selections in POO along with the articles that most clearly discuss the topic

  • The LA Times series focusing on the use of "value added" method to evaluate elementary school teachers asks us to think more specifically about attempting to make the evaluation process more useful, but also asks us to more closely consider our beliefs/ stances about many of the above questions, with the added bonus of being a currently ongoing debate that will affect most of us in this class.

    If you haven't already done so, take a look at the questions in your text after the articles for even more possibilities.


    You may use the above questions as starting places to focus your paper, or you may wish to develop your own question for a focus and try to answer it. Please do not attempt to recycle a paper written for a previous class: teaching philosophy statements, while useful, will not fulfill this paper assignment. Outside research is not only unnecessary, but also not called for in this assignment because you are asked to use the texts we have read together for the class. The material we have covered is sufficient for the assignment, and in fact, using more than two sources will likely cause too broad a focus for your discussion.

    The final draft should be 5 pages minimum (double spaced, MLA format with a Works Cited page, not included in the final pagination). Initial first draft (3 pages) is due to your group by Feb 22 (publish on a mahara page or post to moodle forum). The second draft should be completed by Feb 27. The third draft is a careful edit, again working with your partners. Please follow the dates below as closely as possible in order to allow enough time for feedback from your partners.


    The following dues dates are to help facilitate working with partners. Writers should complete each workshop before the following dates:


    You have a choice of methods for the workshop: discuss with your group members what will work best for your group. I do not accept drafts in email, so if you have a question about an area of your paper that might be giving you a headache, please post your draft on the moodle forum or publish on a mahara page so I can give you feedback.

    I have set up a forum for people to use for workshop purposes. However, we will be using mahara to post workshop versions with comments. Mahara is a user friendly e-portfolio system which will allow each writing group easy access to each other's drafts with easy commentary features. I have allowed ample time for work on the paper and to learn the mahara system.


    Post questions to FAQ forum or the moodle forum set up for that purpose.

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