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Students learned to question the idea that executive
speech should be the sole intellectual property of a single president-author
after reading an article in the New York Times about the composition
of these speeches.
Many undergraduates were surprised to see so many
of the specific practices for revision recommended by their college writing
instructors at work in the White House. Students were asked the following
questions:
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How did President Bush compose the
speech about September 11th that was delivered on September 20th?
Explain the role of "note-taking," "brainstorming," and "trying out sentences
on each other." Who actually wrote the speech before Congress and
revised it? How many people were consulted about possible audience
reactions? How did Bush's own experiences in an American Rhetoric
course at Yale shape Bush's attitudes about writing? How did
he seek comment from others before actually delivering the speech? Why
are speeches from William Lloyd Garrison, Churchill, Roosevelt, and John
F. Kennedy mentioned in the article? |
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Students who may have been taught to value "original"
or "spontaneous" or "personal" discourse found themselves questioning their
fundamental assumptions about the value of particular rhetorical activities. |
