History Bump

Connors' is an "'antiquarian' rather than 'critical'" history (19). His book covers the much-neglected nineteenth-century contributions to written rhetoric (1-2). His purpose is to reform the discipline and encourage its self-understanding and unity (18-20).

He uses the terms current traditional rhetoric and composition-rhetoric interchangeably (6-7). The term current-traditional rhetoric was coined by Richard Young in 1978 and refers to the nineteenth-century effort "to try to inform an ever increasing demand for literacy skills for the professional and managerial classes" (4). Written rhetoric, as it was invented between 1820 and 1910, derived not from rhetorical theory but from "pedagogical lore" and practitioners' "theoretical pronouncements" ungrounded in previous scholarship. The history of composition-rhetoric is an honorable one: "a coherent tradition of conceptualizing the elements of correct and successful writing, trying to teach students how to find them in extant prose, and encouraging students to create them in their own prose" (6-7).

Composition-rhetoric differs from all other academic disciplines in that it proceeds not from an accumulated body of knowledge but from "social fiat" (7-8).

Eras of composition-rhetoric (8):

1. Early American composition-rhetoric (pre-Civil War)
   Derived from a combination of Blair's belletrism and Walker's "writing-oriented teaching methods"; often included Murray's grammar (8). Taught to a small, elite group (9), maximum 35 students (10).
   
2. Postwar composition-rhetoric, 1865-1885
   The Morrill Act of 1862 greatly increased the numbers of students enrolled in U.S. colleges, resulting in rapid development of composition pedagogy, 1865-1885 (9-10). The new pedagogy featured whole-class composition taught to as many as 100 students; a wide variety of methods; and the first widely popular texts—by Bain and Adam S. Hill (10-11)
   
3. Consolidation composition-rhetoric, 1885-1910
   

   
   —Harvard's institution of written entrance exams, which more than half the test-takers failed.
   —Consequent public outcry about illiteracy produced the "temporary" institution of a remedial writing course (proposed by A.S. Hill). The entrance exams and remedial course were quickly and widely adopted in other U.S. colleges (11).
   —Methods of teaching composition became standardized. Driven chiefly by the needs of untrained teachers, composition methods became simplified and taxonomic, featuring four modes of discourse; levels of discourse; and methods of exposition. The period also saw the first rock stars of composition: Scott, Genung, Wendell (12). But with the exception of Scott's crew at Michigan, the period also saw the emptying out of any scholarly basis for composition (15).
   

   
   
4. Modern composition-rhetoric, 1910-1960
   Pedagogy was current-traditional and product oriented, concerned with correctness. The teaching of composition was considered non-intellectual labor (12-13).
   
5. Contemporary composition-rhetoric, 1940-present
   Instigated in the 1911 founding of NCTE and its English Journal. Includes three identifiable groups: The New Rhetoricians/social constructionists, who emphasize theory; empiricists/cognitivists, who emphasize epistemology and the need for research; and the process theorists/expressivists, who emphasize pedagogical methods (15-16).