DOCUMENT RESUME ED 436 789 CS 216 973 AUTHOR Parks, Stephen TITLE Class Politics: The Movement for the Students' Right to Their Own Language. Refiguring English Studies. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL. ISBN ISBN-0-8141-0678-1 PUB DATE 2000-00-00 NOTE 368p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 06781-3050: $21.95 members, $28.95 nonmembers). Tel: 800-369-6283 (Toll Free); Web site: <http://www.ncte.org>. PUB TYPE Books (010) Guides Non-Classroom (055) Historical Materials (060) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC15 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Black Dialects; Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; *Language Usage; Political Influences; *Politics of Education; *Social Influences IDENTIFIERS Black Panther Party; Historical Background; Students Right to Their Own Language (CCCC) ABSTRACT This book relates the story of the 1974 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) resolution on Students' Right to Their Own Language (SRTOL), and sets this up against the story of how Composition Studies developed as a professional field and sets both against the larger history of 1960s movements, the liberal welfare state, and the Cold War. The first half-of the book examines how the term "student" organized the activities of organizations such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, and the Black Panthers. The second half of the book studies how the political, scholarly, and organizational work around student politics produced the resolution on Students' Right to Their Own Language. After a foreword by Richard Ohmann and an introduction, chapters in the book are: (1) "Tracking the Student"; (2) "New Left Politics and the Process Movement"; (3) "Black Power/Black English"; (4) (4) "Locking Horns: The NUC Encounters the MLA [Modern Language Association], NCTE [National Council of Teachers of English], and CCCC, 1968-1972"; (5) "The Students' Right to Their Own Language, 1972-1974"; and (6) "A Coup d'Etat and Love Handles, 1974-1983." A concluding chapter, "Ozymandias--Creating a Program for the SRTOL," discusses how a version of community-based critical pedagogy can produce a composition studies focused on issues of social justice and progressive politics. The first appendix provides the entire text for the resolution on language adopted by members of the CCCC in April 1974; the background statement explaining and supporting that resolution; and a 129-item bibliography. Appendix 2 presents "The fourth and final draft of the report of the CCCC Committee on the Advisability of a Language Statement for the 1980s and 1990s." (RS) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 6 U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ice of Educational Research and Improvement ICATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION 0 CENTER (ERIC) his document has been reproduced as )ceived from the person or organization nginating it tinor changes have been made to nprove reproduction quality 'oints of view or opinions stated in this ocument do not necessarily represent fficial OERI position or policy PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Nt A Myers TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 G\ N CA L) L 0, Refiguring Refiguring English Studies provides a forum for scholarship on English Studies as a discipline, a pro- ENGLISH fession, and a vocation. To that end, the series pub- lishes historical work that considers the ways in STUDIES which English Studies has constructed itself and its objects of study; investigations of the relationships among its con- stituent parts as conceived in both disciplinary and institutional terms; and examinations of the role the discipline has played or should play in the larger society and public policy. In addition, the series seeks to feature studies that, by their form or focus, challenge our notions about how the written "work" of English can or should be done and to feature writings that represent the professional lives of the discipline's members in both traditional and nontraditional set- tings. The series also includes scholarship that considers the discipline's possible futures or that draws, upon work in other disci- plines to shed light on developments in English Studies. Volumes in the Series David B. Downing, editor, Changing Classroom Practices: Resources for Literary and Cultural Studies (1994) Jed Rasula, The American Poetry Wax Museum: Reality Effects, 1940-1990 (1995) James A. Berlin, Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring Col- lege English Studies (1996) Robin Varnum, Fencing with Words: A History of Writing Instruc- tion at Amherst College during the Era of Theodore Baird, 1938-1966 (1996) Jane Maher, Mina P. Shaughnessy: Her Life and Work (1997) Michael Blitz and C. Mark Hurlbert, Letters for the Living: Teach- ing Writing in a Violent Age (1998) Bruce Horner and Min-Zhan Lu, Representing the "Other": Basic Writers and the Teaching of Basic Writing (1999) Stephen M. North, with Barbara A. Chepaitis, David Coogan, Late Davidson, Ron MacLean, Cindy L. Parrish, Jonathan Post, and Beth Weatherby, Refiguring the Ph.D. in English Studies: Writ- ing, Doctoral Education, and the Fusion-Based Curriculum (2000) NCTE EDITORIAL BOARD: Jacqueline Bryant, Kermit Campbell, Bobbi Fisher, Xin Liu Gale, Sarah Hudelson, Bill McBride, Gerald R. Og lan, Helen Poole, Karen Sinith, Chair, ex officio, Michael Greer, ex officio 4 Class Politics: The Movement for the Students' Right to Their Own Language STEPHEN PARKS Temple University National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 5 Manuscript Editor: Karen Bojda Production Editor: Rita D. Disroe Prepress Services: Electronic Imaging Cover Design: Carlton Bruett Interior Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf NCTE Stock Number: 06781-3050 ISSN 1073-9637 ©2000 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teach- ing of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to anyparticular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Parks, Stephen, 1963 Class politics: the movement for the students' right to their own language / by Stephen Parks. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8141-0678-1 1. English languageRhetoricStudy and teachingPolitical aspectsUnited States. 2. Academic writingStudy and teaching (Higher)Political aspectsUnited States. 3. Education, Higher Political aspectsUnited States. 4. College studentsUnited States Political activity. 5. College studentsUnited StatesLanguage. 6. Interdisciplinary approach in education. I. Title. PE1405.U6 P3 1999 808'.042'071073dc21 99-056418 to lori CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix FOREWORD Xiii INTRODUCTION: REDISCOVERING CLASS POLITICS 1 1 Tracking the Student 21 2 New Left Politics and the Process Movement 68 3 Black Power/Black English 90 4 Locking Horns: The NUC Encounters the MLA, NCTE, and CCCC, 1968-1972 125 5 The Students' Right to Their Own Language, 1972-1974 160 6 A Coup d'Etat and Love Handles, 1974-1983 203 CONCLUSION: OZYMANDIAS-CREATING A PROGRAM FOR THE SRTOL 239 APPENDIX 1 255 APPENDIX 2 305 BIBLIOGRAPHY 315 INDEX 331 AUTHOR 353 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS n writing these acknowledgments, I need to begin with my Ifamily. Without Carole and Clinton Parks, Lois and Joseph Ryan, Chris and Mark Dusch, Greg and Dana Parks, Jessica, Greg, Keri, Kelsea, and Kevin, this book and my current career would not have occurred. Over two hundred pages of academic writing is small recompense for your labor and friendship, but thank-you. I am also indebted to a working class ethic that valued suc- cess in college. Much of my graduate career was marked by short- and long-term "engagement" with the service economy. While I am not personally responsible for the "billions and billions sold," I certainly am not guiltless. I am grateful to all the managers, schedulers, and co-workers who, seeing the possibility of a dif- ferent life and hoping I would not forget their actions, cut me slack, let me read at work, or covered for me. I am also grateful to Lori Shorr, Carol Kay, and Christine Ross for the political activism which produced affordable child care at the University of Pittsburgh; they made graduate school affordable for me and many other working-class student- parents. :I hope that they will all see their values represented. I have often said that without Gayatri Spivak coming to Pitts- burgh, I never would have finished graduate school. She was my first true teacher. Without Jonathan Arac, I would not have wanted to finish graduate school. He was my first true colleague. As I moved into composition studies, David Bartholomae saw how my work could fit into the field. His support has always been a valued part of my graduate and professional career. I am also indebted to supportive friends and colleagues who helped out in countless ways during my time at Pittsburgh: Jim Seitz, Annette Seitz, Arjuna Parakrama, Lisa Schwartz, Sherry Cleary, Carolyn Ball, Nancy Glazener, Valerie Begley, John Groch, Johnny ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Twyning, Mark Smith, Pia Basudev, David Sidore, Kate Nolan, Donna Dunbar-Odom, Annette Galluze, and Sandy Russo. Temple University has also proved a wonderfully rich place to develop as a professional. Susan Wells, Eli Goldblatt, Dennis Lebofsky, Dan Tompkins, Lynda Hill, Evelyn Tribble, Dan O'Hara, Robert Caserio, Richard Shusterman, August Tarrier, and Vanessa Allen-Smith have provided unwavering and enthu- siastic support. I have also been fortunate enough to encounter and learn from a set of talented graduate and undergraduate stu- dents: Rob Callahan, Shawn Christian, John Drake, Suzanne Henderson, Meera Nair, Brian Sam Mons, Alima Saffell, Mike Carter, Ribu 'John, Fred Barrett, and Robyn Wilcox.