Connections between Gere & E and S

While reading the Eubanks and Schaeffer article I made various connections to the previous article by Gere. I noticed that many common ideas and thought patterns linked the two together. They both discussed the idea of academic writing. Both articles expressed the idea of academic writing as seen as more than it is. As a society we need to focus more on writing for pleasure. They both explained how academic writing really does not teach us anything. It is seen as above us common people but is really just a bunch of bullshit. If we collectively as a group remember why we enjoy writing and do it from our heart then writing can be what it used to be. We need to focus on making writing for everyone not just people who have a lot of experience with writing. The idea of academic writing is also seen as bullshit because people are not able to read and fully understand what is being discussed. If we focus on teaching people how to write with out all the bullshit everyone will be equal. This will eliminate people feeling less than because of their level of reading and writing. Gere's article explains how the workshops are used to bring people in the community together. This creates a sense of togetherness and begins to eliminate the lower class from the high “academic” society. Giving people who are seen as having no skills a chance to express themselves brings about a huge change. This change can be seen not only in their lives but it can affect the overall community in which these people live.

One of the main differences, I did notice between the articles was that one attacked the idea of writing where as the other described a way to change it. The E and S article basically attacked the idea of academic writing and the people who write them. Gere wanted to show how as a society we can bring about a change in writing. If we give people the opportunity to share their writing skills with others in a nonthreatening manner then we can start to see a change in writing as a whole.

I felt Eubanks and Schaeffer article, described “literacy” as declining because of all the jargon in academic writing. Current academic writing is so filled with jargon and bullshit that apparently you must be an academic in order to understand it. This makes the average person feel less than because they do not understand all the large words which are over emphasized in the writing. Since people feel like they do not comprehend the article then they will not attempt to read it making them feel dumb or illiterate. This is not the case at all unfortunately. It seems the authors of this article want to draw attention to how academic writing should cut out the bullshit to make it more accessible to the average person. Since apparently you must be seen as an academic to be literate.