Project 1

                                             The Controversy of Autonomy in Writing                                                                     English 151

 9/20/12 

Steven Kapela

 Michael Newland 

Autonomy in writing is a controversy that has been debated many times by various authors. Their are

many aspects of autonomy but it is centered around one question. Should Autonomy be taught in the

classrooms of our schools and colleges allowing students to think freely and be themselves. This

essay will provide several different opinions on the subject that may or may not change the opinion

 that people already have about autonomy but will hopefully give a new awareness to the subject.

     In the article Teaching Rhetorical values and The Question of Student Autonomy the author

 Dennis Lynch brings to question,should teachers bring their politics to the classroom. He examines

 contrasting views on this. One view was that students should be taught values predisposed by a

 democratic society to promote social justice. In contrast another view was that teachers should not

 push their beliefs on to students or attempt to change them. This would undermine "student

 autonomy". Teachers need to give students guidance and support to help them learn and possibly

 change their values on their own terms.He goes on to argue that trying to teach students or give

 them appreciation in rhetorical practice should not compromise student autonomy. He feels that as a

 teacher one should be able to hold any political belief and still be able to teach rhetoric without

 intermingling the two.

     In complete contrast,  The False right to Autonomy in Education by Lucas

 Swaine, proposes that autonomy should not be promoted in schools at all. He feels that teachers

 should encourage students to stick to certain ideas of moral character.He calls this moral character

 the "core conception" of personal autonomy. He stresses that he is not against giving students

 choices to present ideas nor is he against learner autonomy. He discusses the different aspects of

 moral character both positive and negative. He feels strongly that moral character and autonomy are

 not compatible and if teachers promoted this core conception of autonomy it could very well lead to

 surprising and unwanted results. He recognizes that children would benefit from positive

 encouragement to build moral character in school however they should not be encouraged to develop

 attitudes of the core conception of autonomy. He feels strongly  that this would harm moral values

 and that it is not worth doing this to just build good character. He argues that the right children have

 to be educated is not the same as the right to be educated autonomous.  

     In the article Freedom of Autonomy in Schiller by Sabrina Roehr she talks about Shiller's view of

 autonomy. He separates autonomy from morals unlike Swaine who feels they are all one in the same.

 He links autonomy with self determination yet separates it from reason. He implies that this is a

 middle ground so to speak for both morals and autonomy to link together. Schiller feels autonomy

 refers to the whole person not just the moral side as Swaine does.