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06/17/2004 Archived Entry: "Committee of Ten"
John Lovas' helpful and insightful comments have led me to discover The Committee of Ten Report from 1892. Until I can find a print version, I'll trust this online version for details. So far, what I see as helpful to my own wok in re-imagining the legacy of English A is the committee's emphasis on separate subject learning (expected since we are witnessing the reality of print culture settling in academia) and the consignment of so called "basic" learning to the high schools.
"Anyone who reads these nine reports consecutively will be struck with the fact that all these bodies of experts desire to have the elements of their several subjects taught earlier than they now are; and that the Conferences on all the subjects except the languages desire to have given in the elementary schools what may be called perspective views, or broad surveys, of their respective subjects—expecting that in later years of the school course parts of these same subjects will be taken up with more amplitude and detail."
Such is the argument for foundation. The reason I focus strongly on the A of English A (and its cousins in Subject A, etc.) is because alphabetic reasoning structures relations by hierarchies. A is the lowest rung of that hierarchy. Writing mostly occupies the slot (thus, English A), but this report reveals many subjects pushing introductory work to be completed elsewhere. The difference, of course, is that these subjects will still carry over into the university, unlike writing, which remains at the level of A.
The network, the structure we are now within, cannot function by this same reasoning. My update of English A is English Tag A (sorry, I can't get Greymatter to allow me to write out the tag without it becoming a link), whose logic is the network, new media, and hypertext.
Replies: 2 comments
I was glad to see that link to the Committee of Ten report. Apparently Charles Mills Gayley was not a member, but his colleague Bradley was. Bradley was the "comp droid" of his day, with Gayley more focused on literature. He was the author of a widely used high school text known as Gayley's "Myths."
Gayley is a really significant figure in the shaping of the field, I believe, but Westerners never seemed to get paid attention to once they came out here. Gayley was a personal friend of Henry James--they hung out in London on Gayley's sabbatical--and Gayley brought James to Berkeley as a visiting writer at one point.
Here's another tantalizing item: Gayley and John Dewey were friends at U. of Michigan and worked together on writing a mystery novel, the provenance of which I've never been able to run down. Want to work on that one with me?
Posted by John @ 06/19/2004 01:17 AM EST
I should say:
These subjects will carry over into the university as discplines (areas and objects of study) unlike writing, which is still left as introductory.
Posted by j @ 06/17/2004 12:41 PM EST