Whither School?

Here Is What I’ve Added Up So Far:

In “The Audit Of Virtuality: Universities In The Attention Economy” Richard A. Lanham questions common assumptions in the university. His argument shies away from traditional practices in the university, such as the preference for face-to-face instruction, the function of tenure as a job description’s stabilizer, the role of administration as a collective faculty bodyguard, the idolization of academic as being above economy, impure motive, outside influence, and inefficient but designed to be so. The larger critique was the misalignment of the university with the Internet.

In “What Should College English Be Doing?” Thomas Miller blames the University for the decreasing value of English in the curriculum because of its “devaluing its engagement with writing at work in public life” (154) and, thus, makes an argument that College English must evolve, to become “literacy studies” instead of English studies (153). This evolution includes the embracing of new media in particular. Jeff Rice’s “Networks and New Media” falls in line with this philosophy as it embraces the idea that the proliferation of College English is rooted in its networking abilities.

In “English Studies in Levittown: Rhetorics of Space and Technology in Course-Management Software” Darin Payne vilifies the “education-in-a-box” that course management tools like Blackboard offer students. Even broader than this is the criticism Payne delivers to computer software in general reinforcing iconography that privileges middle and upper class business culture.

What these articles say about the future of schooling, specifically schooling in College English, is the necessity in evolving and moving away from the “ivory tower” that creates a disconnect between the professors and students. To prolong the life of literacy studies, instructors must connect with students and incorporate identity and passion into the classroom, not ignoring the real-world benefits that literacy studies offer students.