Week II: Spectator, Grammar, and History

I find it enjoyable to read everyone's postings (even if I do not post) to see where we are all coming from. The make up of the class allows for different perspectives that fit into the discussion of Composition. Most important to the differences is how communication overlaps with our different subgroups-parent, teachers, students, etc.
Susanne Langer(who translated Ernst Cassirer's Language and Myth) addresses the ability of compostition to educate when she speaks of poetry "effect[ing]the break with the reader's actual environment" (page 153). Poetry becomes an art and a method of communicating. Reading the work allows an illusion of reality(possibly the author's) to widen our experience. The personal expression of the poet takes us beyond our individual limitations of personal expression. The words offer an expression of what can be taken from the works "efferent" amd what is felt through the words "aesthetic". Important to note here is how the technique of compostition in poetry becomes a connection between not only the writer and the reader, but a connection between the written and spoken word. I believe Compostition becomes a living language that not only connects people in their current time and place, but also in a past while allowing for the possibilities of a future.
In the Hartwell piece on Grammar, I do have some problems with some of the diagraming. I believe the acedemic theoriests are trying to hard to justify the science of compostition when it does not require the solid science. Groups change and such scientific formulas prevent the "living" aspect of communication.
On another note, I would have to agree with Vicki's comments that learning the foundations do allow students to participate in the real world. Beyond the rules of the written word, there is the neccesity to be able to evaluate the prompts on your computer with spelling + grammar check. I believe modern technology has not made basic grammar obsolete, rather the lines between formal grammar and informal grammar have blurred.

How do teachers evaluate the correct grammar without stifling the creative thought? In my educatiion we received grades for pre-write, for grammar, for content, and always a grade for the final re-write that incorporated teacher response. I know that time and testing mandates stretch the time of teachers. My bottom line as a parent requires a commitment by teachers school, districts, and government to that promote smaller class size and adequate funding.