Reason to Believe: Romanticism, Pragmatism, and the Teaching of Writing

By Hephzibah Roskelly and Kate Ronald

Book Overview

Explores current theories of teaching and demonstrates that English studies can benefit from the work of nineteenth-century American romanticism and pragmatism, both of which affirm the possibility of growth and development. The book argues eloquently for the importance of hope and relies extensively for its theoretical underpinnings on the influential writings of Cornel West and Paulo Freire.

Reason to Believe is about teaching and the possibility of making positive change in education. The authors explore the way that American pragmatism and the rhetoric of North American romanticism work together to create a method for restoring hope to teachers and responsiveness to the systems they work within. What the book calls romantic/pragmatic rhetoric offers teachers a way to locate the roots of their beliefs and methods, to name them, and thus to act to change and challenge systems that have become in William James' phrase "tyrannical machines."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791437965
• ISBN13: 9780791437964
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 187 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Is Teaching Still Possible?

In a beautifully conceived and artfully written essay, Ronald adn Roskelly have retraced the twin forces of American education at its best: pragmatism and romanticism. Their findings are rich with voice, immanence, surprise, and relevance. They write with a sense of teaching so attuned to the rhythms and relationships of real writing classes--and their thinking is so live and lively in that setting, one has to answer their question--"Yes!" Teaching is still possible.