Composition in the University

Santosh Khadka

Composition in the University

Chapter 6
Terms of Employment: Rhetoric Slaves and Lesser Men

This chapter has a tone of resistance and anger. A post-structuralist approach is evident with discussion of striking binary between English and comp and discrimination, domination, exploitation and colonization of comp and comp teachers by the English folks, administrators and institutions.

Some of the major points of this chapter are:

-First year comp is taught by grad assistants and parttimers for economic reasons- “the argument from size” – the university does have no resource to hire the full timers.

-Until 1940s comps were taught by the full timers though newest in the profession. This trend changed when disciplinary specialization began to affect staffing in the undergraduate curriculum.

-The low status of comp teaching in the university accrues, in part, from its association with English Departments.

-Literary studies faculty regarded an assignment in composition as a professional disaster.

-The teachers of the universally required courses are underpaid, overworked, and treated with disdain. There is literal invisibility of composition teachers within English Department.

- Literature-composition dichotomy- binaries. Composition is inferior “Other”, a matter of contempt.

-The root of all these problems is that first-year comp has always been staffed by people identified as teachers rather than scholars.

-The identification of composition with teaching rather than scholarship, and its abandonment by “men of ability” insured that, increasingly, teachers of composition would be denied access to professional status.

-Discriminatory employment pattern is visible with comp people.

- This state of affair sees no chance of improvement because the “ultimate administrators do not regard the course as important.”

- Double bind for the comp teachers- the amount of work necessary to teach Freshman English prevented its teachers from doing advanced study in literature, which failure, in turn, committed them to careers in Freshman English. So they are always in trap.

-For many instructors, the assignment to composition is a holding tank. They feel they are destined to teach comp before promoted to teach lit courses.
- Therefore, a freshman teacher faces a very serious professional peril.


There are a number of causes of disaster for people teaching first year comp such as: research focus for promotion, higher status of literary studies and the senior faculty’s resolute inattention to comp theory or pedagogy

Thus, Composition instruction can be linked to slavery and serfdom. There is no future in the profession. Comp teachers as poverty stricken. Teaching of composition is drudgery is paid badly and offers little opportunity for advancement in rank. Many see comp assignment as punishment. SO, Comp is often taught by slaves-grad students and serfs- untenured and untenurable instructors.

Therefore , it is obvious that Eng Dept has colonized composition.

As is evident the chapter is highly political and polemic. Nevertheless, it can be seen as a curtain off the reality.