In The Dark Night of the Soul Richard E. Miller wonders, "what might the literate arts be said to be good for?" In taking up this question, one of my students proved his point that they aren't worth much, but not in the way that he intended. In this diary, I explain my reading of my student's understanding of the so-called literate arts, and I ask for your opinion on what can be done, what should be done, what must be done to change his mind.
My student writes, verbatim, "To start off, spending a lengthy amount of time in school, around twelve years in mandatory education, learning the literate art is not really worth."
This quote is its own proof. First, the obvious, mechanical "errors." As a rhetorician, I'm not one to get caught up in the error game. Message is message, regardless of its grammatical inaccuracies, and this student's message is loud and clear. What are the literate arts worth? Jack.
So moving beyond an initial, vitriolic reaction to his formally bad writing, how else is this student's position its own proof? We have to know what exactly he means by "literate arts." Is he following Miller's desciption in The Dark Night of the Soul? Or does he have some other conception?
This essay answers the question immediately, positing, "as you are sitting in a language arts class, learning the literate arts such as grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other skills necessary to write a paper."
Ah, so the "literate arts" are mechanical, skills-based, assessible, simple. Dot your i's, cross your t's.
Any and all reading this diary recognize how and why this student -- a product of public education -- conflates the "literate arts" with grammar drilling and essay writing. Here is a student fully formed by the high-stakes testing of contemporary education. If it's not measureable, it's not knowledge.
He's a worksheet kid, a bubble-in-the-correct-response kid, an if-it-don't-get-me-over-then-it-ain't-worth-my-time kid. But I know that his teachers didn't want that. I'm his teacher, and I don't want that.
But what the hell can we do to change his mind? Because even though he doesn't think the literate arts are worth it, the literate arts -- and those that teach it -- don't share that opinion of him.