ìNewtonís Third Law of Writingî

by Nick Condon

Isaac Newton once said: ìFor every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.î I suppose this could be applied to arguments in general. For every argument, there is indeed an equal and opposite argument. For example, if I argue that landfills have the sweetest aroma of anything on this Earth; I think my neighbor or somebody would say that I am wrong and argue their point. But that is obvious. Try visiting any college Debate Team, or wait until the 2000 Presidential Elections. Though one may never be confronted with it, the opposite argument is out there, or arguments if the case be so. However, this scenario is not the case with David Bartholomae and Peter Elbow. In their essays: ìWriting with Teachers: A Conversation with Peter Elb owî and ìBeing a Writer vs. Being an Academic: A Conflict of Goalsî (respectively), these two definitely start out at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Bartholomae starts by arguing that writing is academic. Okay, to an extent, yes, I would have to agree. Writing that is done in an academic atmosphere or other similar circumstances (for instance, composing a research proposal for a board meeting) would most certainly be classified as academic. Bartholomae then argues that ìacademic writing is the real writing of the academy (p.63).î I did not really understand what he was trying to say here. He discusses the fact that if students were not told th at writing is academic, then they would be prohibited from some ìauthorityî or ìpowerî an academic writer has. I think that view is silly. Non-Academic writers have authority, too. Perhaps this is a bad analogy, but I am sure whatever Stephen King says, g oes. What I am trying to say is that King is a very big name among the literary public which possesses a lot of influence and his writing is more than likely by no means considered academic.

Bartholomae makes so many arguments that he drifts away from explaining most of the points he tries to make, let alone prove them. Despite all of this, I still see his basic idea. He feels that students write in a space defined by all writing prece ding them. I can agree with that. Whenever I would write a paper in junior high, I would try to set it up like papers I had received good grades on. As far as teaching is concerned, Bartholomae says, ìwe shouldnít think of ourselves as ...guides but as managers (66).î From this, I gather that Bartholomae believes that teachers are not necessarily teaching new writing concepts, but supervising over students. Likewise, there is a difference in management styles here. I feel Bartholomae is saying student s already have the writing skills and it is the purpose of the teacher to manage or supervise the student. I disagree. I feel that students learn the writing skills from the teacher. The teacherís style of management should be as a guide for the students .

At the other end, Elbow feels that writing has absolutely nothing to do with being academic. Not everything has to be so cut-and-dried. I also see Elbowís view. Not everyone is academic all the time, so why should writing be academic, if in fact wr iting is an activity that comes from within? Elbow goes on to discuss why he is torn concerning the issue of teaching. I am sure that in every writing class, there has to be some reading involved. Elbow is concerned with the subject matter, and exactly how much to read. He does make an excellent point when he states, ìvirtually every other course privileges reading over writing.î I feel this is true. In my high school AP English class, all I did was read classic novels. Granted, I wrote papers abo ut them, but I never had experience with writing term papers, a necessary college skill as far as I am concerned.

Now how do I feel about all of this? I honestly feel that we need the best of both worlds when it comes to writing. I am one of the most random thinkers on the face of this planet. I used to keep a journal which contained all of my crazy thoughts. I love to do creative writing activities like that. When I was in elementary school, we devoted a special time everyday to creative writing. When I reached junior high, we had a special section of our English class as creative writing. When I reached high school, creative writing stopped, and academic writing moved in. I am not bitter, because having the academic writing has made me become a better writer. I do not freeze anymore when there is an essay question on a test. I even speak more clearly and hav e a larger vocabulary. This is why I feel that writing needs to be academic as well as creative (or free). This is also why I enjoy English 105H. It is structured writing, but we still have that leeway to be as creative as possible.

For every argument there is an equal and opposite argument or arguments? I really believe so. Although I realize that sometimes common ground cannot be reached, perhaps Bartholomae and Elbow should get together again over coffee, and turn their op posite arguments into a common idea.