Still in Awe

After reading the Committee of Ten article this week, I have to say I'm still in awe at how to this day certain things have not changed in the classroom. The article is dated 1898 and we still face some of the same challenges, debates, and discussions as did the committee at that time. 

I think the ideas that made me say "Oh wow!" out loud were largely based in the idea of grammar and how teachers should approach grammar instruction in the classroom. Having gone through many years of schooling, grammar and the importance of proper grammar have always been at the forefront of English lessons; writing and writing content tended to be secondary. What the committee suggests (and what I have been learning in grad school) is that that notion needs to be rethought. Writing needs to come first, and grammar second (or as the committee strongly puts it, "Grammar should not be regarded as a separate subject in the curriculum”). The actual recommendation is that grammar should be the focus for not more than 3 hours per week for one year of study. Thinking about the way our modern classrooms are structured and the way I was taught, this blew my mind. 

But as I thought about my own English classes middle school and high school, the more writing I did the more the grammar seemed to click and make sense. It was hard to understand the lessons separate from writing at times, but once I could see how I myself (or one of my peers) used it, everything seemed to fall into place. Knowing that made what the committee said that much more believable: “A student may be taught to speak and write good English without receiving any special instruction in formal grammar”  and “…the study of grammar has only an indirect bearing on the art of writing and speaking.”