Blog Post #5

According to G.R. Elliot, "Humanism is the study and practice of the principle of human happiness uncomplicated by naturistic dogmas on one side and religious dogmas on the other." I find it hard to accept this whole idea of humanism. I remember one of my teachers telling me that she was a humanist and I had no idea what she was talking about. After reading this article I have a bit clearer idea as to what she meant, but the interesting thing is that she was saying it in relation to religion. Therefore, I have always associated the two together. However, I just find it impossible to conceive that a person could strive for happiness there whole life and actually achieve it. No matter what that thought of, "Is there greener grass out there somewhere?" would always be on the person's mind. So they would keep striving for that happiness which leaves the whole search kind of pointless. I also find it hard to see humanism working on society as a whole. We all want different things for our lives and therefore we all see happiness in different ways. In the end most people chose their own happiness over others so if it came down to them being happy or someone else, chances are people choose themselves.

Blog Post #4

I think that rhetoric will affect my future in many ways. It will definitely impact my writing. Understanding logos ethos and pathos will help me to make my personal opinions appeal to others. Toulmin’s theory on claims, data, and warrants will help me to make sure that points are backed up properly. I think that understanding all this will also help me be a better teacher. It will be interesting to see how this will affect high school students in their own composition. I was never taught this in high school and I look forward to passing it on to a younger crowd. I think it will help to explain composition to students better and will get them interested in writing.
Rhetoric will also show up in my simple daily writings such as emails. It is impossible to learn about appealing to people through logos, ethos, and pathos and it not end up in my daily routines. I think I will also analyze things in life differently and perhaps understand more. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I haven’t quite decided yet. I can see rhetoric changing my life quite a bit. I think it will definitely improve my composition which is the most important aspect to me.

Blog Post #3

So far I am really enjoying the class. It has completely altered my views on composition. I better understand rhetoric and its importance to composition. I think that Rhetoric is an important subject for students to learn. If I had been taught this new thought process of rhetoric earlier on in my high school days I think I would have understood my composition courses better. My whole thought process on things is expanded. I now notice minute items and begin to figure out in my head how they are persuasive to me. I then begin to contemplate how they influence me through logos, ethos and pathos. This can be troublesome at times because I end up missing a whole lecture because I am busy contemplating on how the chalk on the chalk board is trying to persuade me. However, it definitely puts into perspective a great way to get my future students introduced to composition. I definitely agree that rhetoric can completely change the composition classroom. For some reason this whole idea of rhetoric gets me excited about composition. Maybe that is because I feel like I understand its importance to humanity better?
I definitely believe that what I have learned in these first few classes should be taught to students early on in their education careers. I think that it will help students, as it has me, get their minds open and be able to express more in their writing. Of course I still have some skepticism because some students might not understand this idea of rhetoric at all and therefore it could completely turn them away from composition and result in horrible grades and writing skills, but I guess that is the same with all new teaching ideas. There is always someone who won’t understand it or who opposes it. However, all in all I think I am getting to understand this whole idea and actually find it interesting.

Blog Post #2

I think that seeing all language as persuasion could be correct. No matter what we do or say you can point it in a direction of persuasion. I think seeing the world this way can help us better understand each other, but I also think it could pull us away from simple interpretations. We might over analyze everything that someone is saying or doing if we only view it as persuasion. Just because I say “Hello” to someone I don’t want them thinking in their mind, “Oh she is trying to persuade me that she is a member of our society”. However, getting students to understand this can help with composition. I think it can help show them how important language is in our lives. The example of Joseph really showed me how language, something so simple and overlooked, could truly impact our lives if we did not have it. I know a common question of students is, “Why do I need to learn this?” I think the examples of rhetoric and Joseph are a great way to answer that question for students and put them on a path of understanding composition. Showing them that life is completely altered without language would put into perspective how important it is. Showing students how persuasion and rhetoric affects our society would do this as well. I think it is important that all students learn this early on in their educational careers and maybe they would understand the importance of their Language Arts classes. I know discussing all of this has really put a new light on how I view language and composition, and I understand its importance much more than I ever have before.

Blog Post #1

I found last class' discussion quite interesting. I never really pondered the idea as to why composition and language are so important to our society. The idea that humans are not cannibalistic never really crosses your mind. However, when observing our closest relative, the chimpanzee, you can’t help but wonder why we did not turn out a cannibalistic species. It is easy to say that because we are a compassionate species that possess morals we have strayed away from the cannibalistic path. However, when given the example of Dolphins killing babies one must wonder is our compassion truly the reason? I remember watching a documentary about Dolphins. They were compared to humans because it was discovered they possess the same area of the brain, as humans do, that sparks compassion. Yet, how are Dolphins still able to kill babies for survival if they are compassionate? Perhaps the answer is that we have language. We are able to communicate feelings to each other about certain issues. If one of us look down upon cannibalism and we communicate that to someone else we are able to sway them to the same opinion. Composition might also help with this. Many compositions can sway people’s opinions on certain matters. Our ability to communicate with each other could possible be why we stray away from cannibalism instead of inheriting it from our relatives the chimpanzees. It is interesting to see the importance behind language and composition through this topic.