Writing as a Way of Learning and Developing

Abstract

THOSE OF us in composition occupy valuable territory. We are a land of jobs. We are a land of grants. We are unexplored territory. We are even represented by an organization that has surpluses-a surplus of money and a surplus of talent. But because we hold potential for development and exploitation, we are vulnerable to invaders, especially the literati, who have always been attracted by our markets; the scientific absolutists, who tend to make research a matter of figures and footnotes, seemingly unconcerned with people and purposes; and the anti-rhetoricians, who refer to writing only as a testable item, as a basic skill, or as a tool of communication that we use no more feelingly than a telephone, a tape-recorder, or a typewriter. I do not mean to strike the wrong chord at the start of Frank D'Angelo's program emphasizing trans-disciplinary concerns. We need the crossfertilization of our discipline with others. Tiis is not a declaration of independence or even a declaration of resis-