Last class we talked extensively about the different camps of rhetcomp studies, and the two camps that interested me the most were the Fishian structuralists vs. The Sociological Historicists. Or, to simplify these terms even more, People Who Think We Should Teach Only Fundamentals of English and Everyone Else Who Thinks English Should be Taught as Part and Parcel to a Grander Sociological Examination.
The aspect of this conversation that I found most intriguing was how antagonistic the two camps felt toward one another. Fish is especially critical of the Historicists because he seems to think that the sociological aspects of this camp are trumping their primary responsiblity of rhetcomp studies, which is to teach students how to write. Meanwhile, the Historicists are (perhaps understandably) perturbed by Fish’s condescending, holier-than-though tone. After all, situating English instruction within a grander sociological framework can be a useful tool for persuading the interest of students within that sociological framework.
From my point of view, neither of these two schools of thought has a corner on the market. The helpfulness of both camps depends on both the skillset of the teacher as well as the interest level of the students. Some teachers more versed in a grander sociological background will, no doubt, be better at tailoring their lesson plans around this skillset. Meanwhile, teachers like myself who are weaker in Grand Historical Backgrounds and more interested/versed in the fundamentals of English, can use the Fishian approach to teaching English with greater degrees of success.
However,these are not mutually exclusive paradigms for approaching the instruction of English. I can foresee myself using both skillsets depending on the day. Teachers would be wise to mix and match from all of the different schools of Rhetcomp; intellectual promiscuity is the road to a more satisfying and unifying intellectual discourse and will certainly result in the highest utilization of the broadest level of skillsets for both the teacher and the students.