Timeline for CW in America
Category: Other
Updated: 6 Jan 2018
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Created byMitch
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Events
Massachusetts General Court
asks Harvard to "ban its classical
curriculum for more practical
paths of study" (Adams 6).Harvard begins electives
for seniors only, influenced
by the German model (Adams 6-7).Harvard moves to elective system
for junior through senior.Harvard moves to an elective
system from sophomores to seniorsMorrill Act43 land grant schools
opened from Morrill ActMost American schools moved
to institutional majors and
degree programs.Due to the detriment of the
elective system, A.S. Hill begin
English A, B, C, & D, a course for
every yearDue to too much work for
teachers and students, Harvard
drops mandatorywriting classes
to only freshman year with English A.At this point, a more
grammar-focused,
less rhetorical, prescriptive
approach to education took
over, with books like Murray's
_Gramma_ becoming a staple
text. Grammar was common
in 1819 and expanded in 1850.English as a field of study
consists of grammar rules
and exercises, spelling,
vocabulary, English literature,
classical literature in translation,
oral performance rhetorical
and stylistic principles, and written
composition.Princeton conducts first
English placement test.First English placement test
at Yale.Most schools have an English
placement test.Hill notes that all the
rule-focused writing courses
are damaging students'
writing.Wendell stops teaching English A
because he doesn't like the damage
rules-based writing is causing
student writing.Due to a general dislike
of the deleterious effects
of too much rules-based
writing, Scott writes
_Paragraph Writing_.Study by Asker argues
no meaningful correlation
between grammar tests
and one's ability to
write correct sentences
or to write well.Penny dailys begin, bringing
info to the layperson, info not
just meant for traditionally educated
folks.Yellow journalism begins
aruond this time.Hill teaches the first year-long
advnaced, elective course,
English 5. Hill used free-
writing and workshop in
carious genres in this class.Wendell introduced English 12,
one of Harvard's most popular
courses because it was creative
writing based and brought in
the likes of DuBois, Frost, and
Frank Norris. Most importantly,
Wendell taught the regularity of
habit for writers (Adams 47-48).Though not CW based, English
18 was created to teach students
argument, demonstrated in 15
page forensic essays.English 22 was developed,
where students, like Frank
Norris, regularily worked on
CW.Robert Herrick, Wendell's
old student, begins advanced
comp at UofC, using Wendell's
text and various genres of writing.Bowdoin College did a
team-taught creative
writing course (Adams 56).Mount Holyoke had various
CW classes (Adams 57).In the 1950s, those in
comp wanted to nail
down more specifically
their field and gravitated
to first-year writing,
leaving their few electives in
the hands of those inrhetoric,
lit, and CW .Playwriting starts
at Michigan
(Adams 1880).Short story course
first taught at Michagan
(Adams 64).Short story and poetry
first taught at UofC (Adams 66).Chicago School begins.Several schools were teaching
specific CW courses at this time.
Consult notes on Adams for
specifics (Adams 73)._Short Story Writing_
was published (Adams).George Cram (Jig)
begins verse classes
at Iowa (Adams86-87).Short story at Newcomb College
(Adams).Short story at Iowa
(Adams).Ransom and the
Outlaws (Adams 92).Ransom and the outlaws
publish The Fugitive
(Adams 93).Ransom teaches first
CW course, English 9,
at Vanderbilt (Adams 95).45% of American colleges
have at least one
CW course in the
curriculum.English 12
Wendell, Gardier,
Copeland
Gates (Adams).Periods
Practice in rheotrical arguemnt and forensic writing was replaced with linguistic and literary study"Civilian work force in non-agracultural jobs qudruppled, with the highest rates in clerical and managerial positions" (Adams 15)During this time, high schools' teaching of rhetoric, grammar, and mechanics drops drastically so that 70% of material was literature and "composition", though only1/5 of the composition work was alctually writing.During this time, most tech schools
cut their humanities requirements,
resulting in engineering journals
and those in the work force decring
the need for better writing from
college graduates.Only seven eastern colleges had writing electives.Lafayette creates a class in the short story (Adams 63).
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