Composition's Roots in English Education

Foreward (Yancey)

If history is lived by a group of people, it's a good question as to why they shouldn't at least help compose this history. (xiii)

it's a mantra in the field that composition is unique in its attention to students; here we see how that played out, from the very beginning, with a foundational assumption that students aren't merely the beneficiaries of our intellectual and pedagogical largesse, but rather that they are participants with much to share with us, not least of which is what they already know about composing. (xiii)

Five is the provocative nature of the volume, and by provocative, I don't mean unpleasant or agonistic, but rather thought-provoking and surprising: here, some of our cherished beliefs are called into question... Other questions are more future-oriented and inferential. Are there certain sites, physical sites like the state of Michigan and organizational sites like the National Council of Teachers of English itself, that were especially hospitable for the development of composition, why, and what does that mean for us today? (xiv)

our dual commitment to students and to social justice. (xv)

Introduction: The Intertwined Roots of English Education and Composition Studies (Stock)

Just as histories of composition studies have almost completely overlooked that field's roots in English education, histories of English education have almost completely overlooked that field's roots in composition studies. (1)

This case study is one of many that might be offered to demonstrate how English education and composition studies developed interdependently in America. (2)

The founding of the NCTE in December 1911... (2)--same year that Richards arrived at UNH
the publication of English Journal (EJ), beginning in January 1912... (2)--same year that Scudder arrived back at UNH

Although the term English education has come--over the years--to denote particularly the work of English teacher educators, I am using the term in this essay to refer to the work of teacher-scholars who formed themselves into a professional community for the purpose of shaping curriculum and instruction in subject English and for the preparation of those who would teach it. (2)--this accurately describes Murray and everyone at UNH

As it happens, the story of composition's roots in English education in the University of Michigan is the story of scholars, themes, and projects that figure significantly in the history of the field of composition studies' roots in the field of English education. (7)

Second, I tell the story to enliven--to dramatize with individuals and efforts--one case of the work of English educators, across the twentieth century, that took place in a number of universities in the United States, to realize a community of scholars and a body of knowledge about the teaching of writing. (8)

Having thought for some time about the claim I will make now, I make it fully convinced of its accuracy: The discipline--composition studies--would not have come to be and come to be recognized had it not been for the scholars in English education about whom you will read here. Neither would the field have steadfastly focused on student writers and the teaching of writing had it not been for remarkable teacher scholars like the authors who have written the essay sin this book, all of whom entered the field in the 1960s, 1970s, and the 1980s, an era about which they write here, a time when work in English education flourished, when the Conference on English Education (1964)--following the model of the CCCC (1949)--was established and developed in NCTE to promote the scholarship of the teachers of teachers of subject English. (18)