Yesterday I got the chance to spend the whole day at home…organizing stuff, getting my home office set up, and just being in our new house.  After Chris left for work, I decided to take a walk…I mean, we’re just a couple of blocks from about 5 miles of walking trails.  It felt good to walk…and I walked for a hour or so, just taking in the creek that runs alongside the walking trail, the sounds of the birds, and the quiet of the place.  It’s been a while since I’ve had that kind of day…and it felt like that joy that Dionysus always reminds me not to forget, was creeping back into my everyday.

Today I decided to come into work…as part of easing myself back into the swing of things.  With all the work I’ve been doing on our old house and moving to the new one, I’ve  had a rather good break from happenings on campus…while at the same time, I’ve been thinking a lot about my own writing and teaching.  Kind of nice.  Having that little break has been good in so many reasons.  I mean, it’s so easy to let this place suck you in…there is so much to do, so many things that can be made better, or need to be done that you get worn out.  Especially this past couple of years with contract negotiations and a series of really hard things to deal with on campus and with colleagues.

There are times when I wish I was one of those people that could just come in, teach my classes, do my office hours, and then go home to read and write.  However, a long time ago I accepted the fact that I am not that kind of person, nor will I ever be.  I could go into a long list of reasons why that’s the case…but suffice it to say it has to do with my ethical make up.  I am not just talking about abstract principles…I mean the kind of ethical “coding” that becomes woven into our tissue after years and years of growth.  What it comes down to is that when I see something that is “wrong” I think the only ethical thing to do is to make it right.  It’s not always easy, or convenient, or popular…but it’s right.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying I’m a saint or anything.  But I try to do the right thing. I think that’s ultimately why I got involved with politics and activism at such a young age.  “Injustice” became married to “wrong” in my world view early on.  And…it always seemed to me that the worst kind of “sin” was when someone/some institution knew something was wrong, had the power to make it right, and then did virtually nothing because they were worried about repercussions, or how it would look, or a potential law suit.  To do nothing under such conditions was an act of shameful cowardice.

What’s even worse is when you begin to follow the line of argument or justifications people and institutions make when asked to give an account of their (lack of) actions.  We then find ourselves in a world of “it’s a difficult issue,” “what you don’t seem to understand is,” “it’s not that easy,” etc.  Anything to muddy the ethical waters.  It’s standard rhetorical practice for dominant politics…to attempt to introduce “complexity” or “difficulty” or “doubt” into an audience as a means to avoid accountability.

And maybe I’m even more sensitive to this as a rhetorician…I mean, we spend a good deal of time in the muddy waters of ethics.  BUT…ethical rhetoricians DO NOT seek to avoid accountability.  Further, we swim in complexity–in the gray areas–without casting off our ethical burdens.  Put another way, complexity is not an excuse of making unethical decisions…good ethical decisions, arguments, choices take account of all the complexities…and still decide, argue, and choose ethically.

I know I’m rambling here…but I just need to get some of this out.  My institution had the knowledge, power, and capability to do a right and just thing…then chose not to.  Best I can tell it had more to do with technicalities, convenience, and fear than with what was right.  It boggles my mind.

I need to get back to that walking path and conjure up my pal Dionysus for a chat…

Our blog name, aside from being so long that you really *have* to bookmark it (hint, hint), is pretty open to interpretation. I guess a good way to introduce myself is to share some of my thoughts on the idea of “recreational criticism,” what it is and why we love it.

Because we (the bloggers*) all care very much about our work and our field (English Studies), we tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We worry about what our peers and colleagues think of us, what our students think of us, what our intimidatingly smart professors and department chairs think of us. We worry about the future and how on earth we’re going to weatherproof the cardboard boxes we’ll be living in when we graduate.**

“Recreational Criticism,” to me, is a reminder not to worry so much, because what we’re doing is really a lot of fun. We’re lucky to be doing it, and we should really take time to enjoy the ride. I hope this blog will be a place where we can spin some of the challenges we’re facing as young academics into something entertaining, engaging, and (of course!) fun.

Expect rants, anecdotes, thought-provoking reflection, book reviews, and maybe some recreational deconstruction*** if you’re lucky. Consider yourself fairly warned, and welcome aboard!

~LA, City U.

So, if you’ve “found the internet” while lounging on a desert island or are looking for compadres for your own adventures in English Studies…check out the ARC.

We put our house on the market last week and have our first open house this Sunday. Wow. It’s going to be more of a hike for me now–about 50 minutes–but being closer to her family and to Philly will balance that commute a bit.

The nice thing is that we will now have a little back yard with a big deck. And, we’re just a few blocks from about 5 miles of parkland. All good. And…for those of you who do not already know…it will be a great house for our KID! That’s right, come October Chris and I will welcome a little one into our lives. I can’t wait! So, that’s the big reason for the move…

So, in addition to trying to get my head back into work and ready for the fall semester, I’ll be in the process of moving for the next month. The next MONTH you say? Yup…we’re moving slowly…hoping our house will sell soon…and then going up to the Adirondacks for about 10 days for fun in the mountains and lakes. We even managed to coordinate our trip with the weekend of my Dad’s clambake. Now that’s something we just couldn’t miss.

Back to work I go…

90 degrees. Mostly sunny. Clouds beginning to roll in bringing the possibility of thunderstorms!

Can’t stop thinking about the clambake

I know, it’s not a whole lot to look at, but we did the best we can. We are, after all, the emergent group in the English department. And frankly, there is not a whole lot of funding available for robot/cyborg army building.

We actually got some of our inspiration from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. “Clones” had a nice irony to it. After all, the lingering dominant logic concerning writing and the teaching of writing is an assembly-line logic. Produce thousands of identical skill sets for the marketplace even though our globalized, digitized economy doesn’t work on that model any longer. Somehow, concepts of literacy–especially at non-elite colleges and universities–are still cast in an industrial mold. Perhaps this comes from the class distinctions still reinforced in our stratified (higher) education system. Perhaps it’s what Edward Bernays called the “retrogressive force” of tradition.

In any case, given the recent “budget shortfalls” for the PA State System of Higher Education–of which Kutztown is a part–I suspect that CRLS will be a punk ethic/DIY project. We will have to slowly reverse that assembly line model of how writing/literacy is articulated as well as slowly introduce our robot army into the department and university. In a perfect world, we could have created an HQ that called to mind Tipoca City on Kamino from Attack of the Clones. However, we quickly found that such an undertaking was non in the budget. So we settled for our little shrouded piecemeal HQ pictured above.

So, it’s July 21st now. That means just about a month before the semester begins. Time to shift gears and get back to building. It really has been quite a summer so far…and at the same time, I am looking forward to all this year promises.

Partly cloudy. 84 degrees. Slight chance of thunderstorms.

***************************************

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania enrolls approximately 10,000 students in graduate and undergraduate programs. The University is located in the borough of Kutztown in a charming rural setting, and is within 20 minutes driving time of the diverse metropolitan areas Allentown/Bethlehem and Reading, and within 60 minutes of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The University is very interested in hiring employees who have had extensive experience with diverse populations.

The English Department invites applications for a tenure-track position in Composition and Rhetoric beginning Fall 2009.  Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric preferred, ABD accepted with completion of dissertation before second year of appointment.  Demonstrated experience and research in one or more of the following areas a plus:  History of Composition and Rhetoric, Classical Rhetorics, Multicultural Rhetorics, Visual Rhetorics, Writing Program Administration, Assessment of First-Year Writing, or WAC.  Strong applicants will also be committed to a “stretch model” approach to introductory composition courses. 

The 4/4 teaching load will include College Composition, Introduction to College Composition, Honors Composition, and Advanced Composition with opportunities to develop and teach upper-level and graduate courses in Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy Studies. Three (3) years of college-level teaching experience required with significant experience teaching Composition.  Successful interview and demonstration of teaching abilities required. 

Send a letter of application, vita, three current letters of reference, and all official college-level transcripts to Dr. Kevin Mahoney, Chair, Composition Faculty Search Committee, 241 Lytle Hall, English Department, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA 19530.  Only complete application packets will be considered.  Review of applications will begin November 14, 2008 for MLA interviews and will continue until the position is filled.  For more information on our program, visit our website at: http://kucomprhet.wordpress.com or contact the Committee Chair at Mahoney@kutztown.edu.

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and actively solicits applications from women and minority candidates.  Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is a member of the State System of Higher Education.

As we understand the Connections “Writing skills” presentation, the students are allowed to self-select either ENG 022 or ENG 023 given their self-assessment of writing skills. Unfortunately, the College of Education course structure does not allow for flexibility in scheduling. If the student self-selects ENG 022, the course is counted as an elective. The difficulty arises because the COE does not have built-in electives- essentially, the course “doesn’t count.”

Would it be possible to not offer the ENG 022 self-select option to the College of Education Connections students? During our part of the Connections presentation, we do outline the advantages of using the Writing Lab, library services, etc. We sincerely appreciate the need for the ENG 022 course but hope that you understand the limitations of our program.

I thought about this for a long while. My initial, rather short response ended up accidentally in my “drafts” folder and never got to the intended recipient. As it turns out, that was a good thing. It gave me a little time to think more about how to respond more in-depth and to explicitly articulate the principles of Directed Self-Placement. Here’s what I wrote back:

I apologize for the delay in my response. I thought that I had replied to you last week when I returned from vacation, but I just found my previous message in my “drafts” folder. Sorry for that. I want to take a little time to respond to your inquiry and let you know how I have incorporated your concerns into my Directed Self-Placement presentation at this point.

Pragmatics: Given the way that Directed Self-Placement works, it is impractical to tailor the presentation to each major. The time I am allotted is packed as it is. In the past I have regularly mentioned that some majors do not have any General Education electives and in that case if students elect to take ENG 022, they may be taking an additional class.

Academic/Pedagogical Philosophy: Directed Self-Placement is grounded in a several key principles.

1. It is critical that students take responsibility for, or “own,” their education and their educational choices. Given that higher education is “elective,” students have to re-orient themselves toward education. In particular, they have to begin to become agents in their own educational process. (I have attached an article by Daniel Royer and Roger Gilles of Grand Valley State University. Their article, “Directed Self-Placement: An Attitude of Orientation,” is an excellent discussion of Directed Self-Placement and is quite close to our own perspective. When Janice Chernekoff researched DSP programs as part of building this process at KU, she talked with these folks and looked closely at their program in addition to many others).
2. Standardized tests and high-stakes essay testing have proven to be less than ideal when it comes to placing students into their first-year writing courses. Not only are these tests generally incomplete in terms of their ability to capture a student’s capacity to succeed, they tend to reinforce “deficiency” narratives among poor, inner-city, and minority students who are traditionally the ones who perform the worst on standardized tests. Students who are given the opportunity to make informed choices about their individual needs as opposed to being told what their needs are by some rubric or institutional means become agents as opposed to objects in their educational process.
3. When asked to seriously consider their own reading and writing histories, students will generally make the right choice for themselves. Put another way, guided self-assessment is a key skill that all students need to develop in becoming agents in their own education.
4. Writing ability is one of the key indicators for success finding a job and advancing in one’s career. That is, “the ability to write opens doors to professional employment,” according to the National Commission on Writing’s 2004 report, “Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or a Ticket Out” <http://www.writingcommission.org/pr/writing_for_employ.html>. Likewise, ACTs 2003 “National Curriculum Survey” found that “Even jobs that call for little or no postsecondary education often require strong reading, writing, and computer skills.” Perhaps most significant is the assessment of former Labor Secretary Robert Reich who was arguing as early as the 1990s that “symbolic analytic” work is key to our changing economy. As part of my presentation, I touch upon these issues as a way to stress the realities of our world. I would imagine that the job market for teachers would reflect these trends as well–you would know that better than I.
5. The mission of our university includes an access mission. With that access mission, I believe, we need to do more than “open the door,” we also need to provide resources, courses, and assistance so that all students–especially those students traditionally labeled “at-risk”–can succeed. ENG 022 is one of those resources that responds–materially–to that mission.

My judgment is that it would be a mistake to deny students who may become teachers (we know many students do change their majors) a key resource that may help them make the transition to college and succeed in their academic career. From my standpoint, I have the luxury of not having to advocate for one student’s major over another–I have to look at what I believe is good for all students (in terms of their composition course choices and orientation toward their college career). And I think that the pedagogical and philosophical goals of Directed Self-Placement are sound.

Having said that, I readily admit that my position comes from the perspective of someone who coordinates the composition program, studies writing, and guides students through their composition course choices. You and your colleagues need not agree with me or may make other choices. But, those need to be your choices. In other words, I think the College of Education needs to take ownership of the decision to deny students ENG 022 as a choice. I think it is even more important now as the College of Education has to make significant changes in its curriculum in response to the new PA Department of Ed requirements. For what it’s worth, I think you should make it explicit in your own materials and with your discussions with students and with the administration.

In some ways, this process is already in place. We know, for example, that many education students who elect to take ENG 022 are told later by their advisors to drop it and take ENG 023 because there is “no room in their schedule.” I would just urge you to see if there is another way–for the sake of the students. From my perspective, I think it’s worthwhile privileging the pedagogical and philosphical integrity of our students’ educational process over the more narrow goals of a professional major. But, again, I concede that this is only my perspective and certainly the College of Education is trying to negotiate many competing interests.

In terms of my presentation to students, I now share with potential students your request and my response (not at such length of course). Again, the purpose is to provide students with as much information as possible with which to make their decision. And, of course, students will hear your orientation and meet with their advisors as well.

I apologize for the length of this email, but since you were writing “on behalf of the College of Education Connections staff” I wanted to provide you with a sustained response that you can share with others involved in Connections and the College of Education.

Hope your Cycle I went well!

Best,
Kevin Mahoney

I thought this would be a useful follow up to my previous post! Still early. Still hot.