Like my classmates, I am also interested in what I read for the Gere article, The Extracurriculum of Composition. I am taking note at when Gere talks about the history of the acceptable composition that we accept today. I found it interesting that the “extracurriculum” was a nonacademic tradition that led to the development of English studies.
So outside of the classroom, college studies were participating in these clubs that actually enhanced their composition and ultimately their literacy. This brings me to the idea of sponsorship and schooling that we have talked about before. What should you value more, the traditional setting of learning in the classroom or the extracurriculum activities that also enhance composition and literacy? Or are they equally important in developing into a literate person? Why?
Depending on the quality of the education, the traditional setting may be more important to make a literate person, but I think that extra curriculum activities provide us with more willingness to learn and grow in literacy. The traditional setting of learning in the classroom is valuable, but in the required education, I feel that the motivation to learn slowly goes from intrinsic to extrinsic. We study and learn, not simply for the privilege of gaining the knowledge, but more so for the ability to receive high honors and grades. In extra curriculum activities, we develop more than just literacy. As we learned in this week’s reading, these activities allow people to develop a better sense of community. With developing literacy through interests and groups, we make it seem like “a talent”, rather than an expectation. By doing so, people become more motivated to learn. In these ways, I believe that the extra curriculum activities are more important.
I think that both settings are probably equally important to literacy. Traditional school settings as they currently are established are a good place for people to get the basics of reading and writing while nontraditional extracurricular places are better for honing your writing style. The extracurricular writing groups we read about can also help people feel more comfortable with more “public” writing in a way that school cannot, because in the groups, written work is critiqued by members of the author’s own community rather than just having one teacher read their work. Spaces like these that challenge people to develop their own writing style and become comfortable with writing are not considered essential in formal education, but they should be considered just as important as traditional classroom education.