WE, AS COMPOSITION TEACHERS, NEED TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO BE AS CREATIVE AND PURPOSEFUL AS POSSIBLE WITH THEIR WRITINGS
03/27/2016
THE PROGRAM WHERE I WAS COMPLETING MY DISSERTATION AT WAS CALLED WRITING, TEACHING AND CRITICISM; HOWEVER, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED WRITING, TEACHING AND CREATIVITY BECAUSE IT WAS THE WORK OF THE CREATIVE WRITERS AND COMPOSITIONISTS IN THE PROGRAM THAT GAVE THE PROGRAM ITS UNIQUE "EDGE" AND TRANSFORMATIVE POWER DURING THE D.A. PROGRAM IN THE 1980's BEFORE THE FACULTY DECIDED THAT THEY NEEDED A PHD PROGRAM INSTEAD OF A D.A.. DURING THE D.A., THE CREATIVE WRITERS AND COMPOSITIONISTS IN THE PROGRAM WERE CREATIVELY REENVISIONING THE WORK OF ENGLISH STUDIES AND THEY BROUGHT THOSE FRESH VISIONS OF THE FIELD INTO THEIR TEACHING IN THE PROGRAM AND AT THE OTHER UNIVERSITIES WHERE THEY WENT TO TEACH AFTER COMPLETING THEIR DEGREES AT ALBANY. BEING A D.A. PROGRAM THAT ATTRACTED MANY CREATIVE WRITERS WHO WANTED TO CREATIVELY THINK ABOUT INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES PERTAINING TO WRITING AND WRITING INSTRUCTION IS WHAT SET THE PROGRAM APART FROM OTHER DOCTORAL WRITING PROGRAMS. HOWEVER, WHEN THE FACULTY DECIDED THAT THEY WANTED TO CHANGE THE PROGRAM TO A PHD PROGRAM, THEY BROUGHT IN LITERARY CRITICS AND PEOPLE ROOTED IN LITERARY CRITICISM TO CONSULT ON THE FORMATION OF THE PHD, AND THOSE PEOPLE DID NOT HAVE THE CREATIVE VISION THAT WAS ALREADY IN PLACE AT SUNY ALBANY IN THE 1980'S AND EARLY 1990's. THESE CONSULTANTS THOUGHT THAT THE PROGRAM NEEDED MORE THEORETICAL CRITICS SO THAT IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED MORE RIGOROUS IN THE FIELD; HOWEVER, RIGOR IS ANTITHETICAL TO THE CREATIVITY AND RENVISIONMENT OF THE PROFESSION AND TEACHING THAT WAS ALREADY GOING ON AT ALBANY SO THE CHANGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS RESULTED IN A LOT OF TENSION AND PROBLEMS IN THE PROGRAM THAT WOULD NOT HAVE EXISTED IF THEY HAD BROUGHT IN A DIFFERENT SET OF CONSULTANTS WHO HAD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT MADE THE D.A. PROGRAM UNIQUE AND VIABLE IN THE FIELDS OF ENGLISH AND COMPOSITION STUDIES. THESE CONSULTANTS DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HAVING A DOCTORAL PROGRAM THAT CREATIVELY RENVISIONED AND REVITALIZED THE FIELD OF COMPOSITION STUDIES. INSTEAD OF TAKING STOCK OF THE GOOD THAT WAS ALREADY HAPPENING IN THE PROGRAM, THEY IMPOSED A STANDARDIZED VISION OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING, GENERALLY-SPEAKING, IN THE FIELD OF ENGLISH STUDIES AT OTHER UNIVERSITIES; HOWEVER, AGAIN, THIS WAS NOT SUITED TO THE CREATIVE AND PURPOSEFUL WORK THAT WAS ALREADY BEING DONE IN THE ALBANY D.A. PROGRAM. INSTEAD, WE NEED MORE PROGRAMS LIKE THE ALBANY D.A. WHERE THEORETICALLY-INCLINED CREATIVE WRITERS AND COMPOSITIONISTS CAN GO TO REIMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE FIELD OF COMPOSITIONS STUDIES AND ITS POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM AND RENVISION THE TEACHING OF WRITING AND THE PROFESSION AS A WHOLE.
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