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February 28, 2007
Potential Exam Questions - Rhetoric
After reviewing the questions from prior CCR exams, and revising a draft post I will be finalizing later today as a result of this exercise, I came up with the following as a starting point for [a] question[s] for the major exam in Rhetoric. The comments function has been repaired, so any and all comments will be welcome.
In the ancient world, education in rhetoric prepared men to participate in civic affairs, from the democracy of Athens to the Republic of Rome to the university halls of Scotland, England, and the United States. Over the years, rhetoric was lost as a discipline, recovered, revised and adapted across a range of social and cultural systems. In the last half of the twentieth century, rhetoric enjoyed resurgence as a discipline, including PhD programs focusing on composition and rhetoric, as well as speech communication. Rhetoric has been described as a content-less discipline or art, both in the ancient and contemporary worlds. Yet the growth of doctoral programs suggests an ongoing need for and interest in rhetorical education.
In a time when university education is increasingly specialized and diverse, both in terms of curriculum and student base, what place do you see for education in rhetoric? Are rhetoric’s current disciplinary affiliations adequate? Can education in rhetoric serve a broader purpose? If it is a content-less discipline, as some have argued, how would you define rhetoric as a subject and what would instruction in rhetoric include? If there is a value to rhetoric as the center of a university education, what is that value and what concepts and terms from the history of rhetoric seem most useful in structuring such an education? For what kind of citizenship would such an education prepare students? What might be the effect on other university disciplines if rhetoric were a core subject for all students? How might education in rhetoric include developing speaking and writing skills without becoming purely prescriptive? Should education in rhetoric be focused only on public forums and service? What other purposes might education in rhetoric serve and how might these be included in a curriculum? In your answer discuss relevant historical figures and contexts (i.e., time period, location, government, dominant belief systems, etc.) and, as much as possible, connect theories to potential applications within and beyond the university.
Comments and suggestions welcome!
Posted by cageyer at February 28, 2007 11:24 AM