Current-traditional Rhetoric

A written rhetoric arose in this century in a form that is commonly called the product method of teaching composition. When I was a freshman taking composition classes in the 1980's, this is what occurred: we read literature, discussed the stories and poems, and wrote essays about what we read. The teacher then included some grammar lessons. We turned in the essay and continued the discussions and grammar lessons.

Then one day, we received the essays back with a multitude of comments. The idea was that we were supposed to learn from those comments and write better the next time. This was repeated.

Some ten years later (1990's), I began to study rhetoric in graduate school, and I learned of a new way of teaching composition.  Relatively no grammar lessons were given, and no readings were given. Instead, students read each others' essays and learned to peer edit (grammar) each others' papers.   Essays were usually not turned in until the end of the semester.

The papers went through a massive amount of revision. The writing process was more important than the product.

The current-traditional rhetoric was basically created in the nineteenth century American university system.

In 1874, Harvard required new students to write an entry essay in order to be accepted.  They discovered that many of their students could not write very well. (Nothing much has changed since then.) Thus, they instituted freshman composition classes as a requirement in 1885, instigated by Adam S. Hill.  The rhetoric used in those classes was greatly influenced  by George Campbell (philosophical rhetoric), Hugh Blair (belletristic rhetoric), and Richard Whately (argument). In a sense, we are still influenced by them.

• composition is treated as a rhetorical entity in itself.

Last Updated: 08/28/01 , History of Rhetoric II, University of Central Oklahoma. Wayne Stein wstein@ucok.edu.