Navigation

Return to the front page.

Return to the overview for this issue of CCC.

Access a full text PDF of this article. (Note: PDFs are available through NCTE, or JSTOR for issues prior to Volume 48. Site subscription may be required.)

Delicious Bookmark this entry on Delicious

CiteULike Bookmark this entry on CiteULike.

Print this entry.

[need to do a plaintext style sheet for entries]

Then below here, we'll add the lower navbar stuff from the original version, inc. site search, tag search, categories, issue bar, etc.)

Kelly Ritter. Before Mina Shaughnessy: Basic Writing at Yale, 1920-1960.

Ritter, Kelly. "Before Mina Shaughnessy: Basic Writing at Yale, 1920-1960." CCC 60.1 (2008): 12-45.

Abstract:

This article examines Yale's "Awkward Squad" of basic writers between 1920 and 1960. Using archival materials that illustrate the socioeconomic conditions of this early, "pre-Shaughnessy" site of remedial writing instruction, I argue for a re-definition of basic in composition studies using local, institutional values rather than generic standards of correctness applied uniformly to all colleges and universities.

Works Cited
Armstrong, Cherryl. "Reexamining Basic Writing: Lessons from Harvard's Basic Writers." Journal of Basic Writing 7 (1988): 68-80.
Bailey, J. O. "Harvard, Yale, Princeton Required English." South Atlantic Bulletin 11.4 (Feb. 1946): 6-8.
Bartholomae, David. "The Tidy House: Basic Writing in the American Curriculum." Journal of Basic Writing 12.1 (1993): 4-22.
Berlin, James. Rhetoric and Reality: Writing Instruction in American Colleges, 1900-1985. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1987.
Bloom, Lynn Z. "Freshman Composition as a Middle-Class Enterprise." College English 58.6 (Oct. 1996): 654-75.
Brereton, John. The Origins of Composition Studies in the American College, 1875-1925. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1995.
Cox, Martha H., John W. Canario, and James R. Cypher. "Remedial English: A Nation-Wide Survey." College Composition and Communication 11.4 (Dec. 1960): 237-44.
DeGenaro, William. "Why Basic Writing Professionals on Regional Campuses Need to Know Their Histories." Open Words: Access and English Studies 1.1 (Fall 2006): 54-68.
Delcamp, E. W. "The Value of PostGraduate Study." Classical Journal 23.6 (March 1928): 448-55.
Devane, William. "The New Program at Yale College." Journal of Higher Education 18.4 (April 1947): 189-93.
Eble, Kenneth E. "What Happened to the Boneheads?" News Bulletin of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association 13.4 (Aug. 1960): 1-3.
Fountain, Alvin M. "The Problem of the Poorly Prepared Student." College English 1.4 (Jan. 1940): 309-22.
Fox, Tom. Defending Access: A Critique of Standards in Higher Education. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999.
French, J. Milton. "The New Curriculum of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton." College English 8.2 (Nov. 1946): 73-82.
Gordon, Joseph W., and Linda H. Peterson. "Writing at Yale: Past and Present." ADE Bulletin 71 (Spring 1982): 10-14.
Gunner, Jeanne. "Iconic Discourse: The Troubling Legacy of Mina Shaughnessy." Journal of Basic Writing 17.2 (1998): 25-43.
"Has English Zero Seen Its Day? A Symposium." College Composition and Communication 8.2 (May 1957): 72-95.
Hemingway, S. B. Memo to Provost Charles Seymour, 12 Oct. 1936. Yale University Archives. New Haven, CT.
"History of the Regiment-Glossary of Indian Wars Slang." 10 July 2006 .
Jensen, George H. "The Reification of the Basic Writer." Journal of Basic Writing 5.1 (1986): 52-64.
Johnson, Paula. "Freshman English in the Ivy League." Freshman English News 5.3 (1977): 14-18.
---. "The Politics of 'Back to Basics.'" ADE Bulletin 053 (May 1977): 1-4.
Johnson, Paula, and Judith D. Hackman. "The Yale Average; or, After Competence, What?" College Composition and Communication 28.3 (1977): 227-31.
Karabel, Jerome. The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Kitzhaber, Albert R. "Syllabus for English 01, Washington State University, 19461947." 1 March 2007 < http://comppile.tamucc.edu/archives/kitzhaber.pdf>.
Lerner, Neal. "Rejecting the Remedial Brand: The Rise and Fall of the Dartmouth Writing Clinic." College Composition and Communication 59.1 (Sept. 2007): 13-35.
Levine, David O. The American College and the Culture of Aspiration, 1915-1940. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1986.
Lunsford, Andrea. "An Historical, Descriptive, and Evaluative Study of Remedial English in American Colleges and Universities. " Diss. Ohio State University, 1977.
McHale, Kathryn. "Changes in the Colleges." Journal of Higher Education 2.6 (June 1931): 289-94.
Mutnick, Deborah. Writing in an Alien World Basic Writing and the Struggle for Equality in Higher Education. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton Cook, 1995.
Nettleton, George H. "English at Yale." Yale Alumni Weekly. 1924. 1061-1063.
---. "Report of the English Department, Yale University, 1929-30." June 18, 1930. Yale University Archives, New Haven, CT.
Nibecker, F. H. "Education of Juvenile Delinquents." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 189 (Jan. 1937): 22-28.
Pierson, George W. Yale: The University College, 1921-1937. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1955.
---. Yale College: An Educational History 1871-1921. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1952.
Probert Encyclopaedia of Slang. "Awkward Squad." 2 July 2006 .
Rose, Mike. "The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University." College English 47.4 (1985): 341-59.
---. "Remedial Writing Courses: A Critique and a Proposal." College English 45 (Feb. 1983): 109-28.
Ross, Edward Alsworth. "The Diseases of Social Structures." American Journal of Sociology 24.2 (Sept. 1918): 139-58.
Russell, David. Writing in the Academic Disciplines: A Curricular History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1991.
Shaughnessy, Mina. Errors and Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing. New York Oxford UP, 1977.
Sheridan-Rabideau, Mary, and Gordon Brossell. "Finding Basic Writing's Place." Journal of Basic Writing 14.1 (1995): 21-26.
Shor, Ira. "Errors and Economics: Inequality Breeds Remediation." Mainstreaming Basic Writers. Ed. Gerry McNenny. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001. 29-54.
Soliday, Mary. The Politics of Remediation. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2003.
Sommers, Nancy. Shaped by Writing: The Undergraduate Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2002.
Sparling, Edward J. "Improving the Status of the Composition Teacher." College Composition and Communication 8.2 (May 1957): 67-72.
Stygall, Gail. "Politics and Proof in Basic Writing." Journal of Basic Writing 7.2 (1988): 28-41.
Towle, Carroll S. "The Awkward Squad at Yale." English Journal 18.8 (1929): 672-677.
Williams, Joseph. Letter to the Editor. ADE 46 (Sept. 1975). .
Williams, Stanley T. Memo to Provost Ed Furniss. 22 Jan. 1942. Yale University Archives, New Haven, CT.
Wozniak, John. English Composition in Eastern Colleges, 1850-1940. Washington, DC: UP of America, 1978.
Yale Freshman Committee. "Syllabus for Basic English: Army Specialized Tutoring Program." 10 May 1943. Yale University Archives, New Haven, CT.
"Yale Undergraduate Courses of Study." 1919-1951. Yale University Archives, New Haven, CT.
Yale University. Annual Report of the Department of English to the President, 1958-1959, by Chairman Louis L. Martz. Records of Alfred Whitney Griswold, RU-22, Box 81, Folder 722. Yale University Archives.
---. Yale Freshman Committee. "Syllabus for Basic English: Army Specialized Tutoring Program." 10 May 1943. YRG 3-A, Box 21, Folder 216. Yale University Archives.
____________
Tags (?)

Works Citing