Thus not mere expression but communication as well is made the business of composition.” Fred Newton Scott saw rhetoric as an intellectually challenging subject.
[1] Originally, classical rhetoric studies were geared to composition that included emotional and ethical appeals in addition to logical ones.
Scott shares Plato’s concern for the welfare of the community and the belief that good discourse is that which by disseminating truth creates a healthy public opinion and thus effects, in Plato’s words, ‘a training and improvement in the souls of the citizens.’”[2] Scott also illustrated the importance of the audience within the system.
“He was also often described as a ‘Socratic’ teacher, using a question-and-discovery method of teaching to inspire his students to learn material on their own rather than repeating information given by the teacher.”[3] Scott did not follow the current traditional theory of rhetoric as it left out the importance of the audience.
Progressivism, as applied to individuals, refers to a group of social reformers active around the beginning of the 20th century.
Included in their ranks were educators, like John Dewey, social welfare workers, like Jane Addams, and journalists, like Lincoln Steffens.
“The most prominent characteristic of this ideology was engagement with a set of political and civil ideals stemming from the legacy of republicanism: commitment to the public good and the health of the nation; a belief in liberty so that all could be free to participate in public affairs; the creation of community, so that all would share an equal existence among others sharing and participating in the same commitments.”[4] Scott viewed the educational experience as self-development within a democratic environment, and was a method of training young minds to be active participants in a democratic society.
[3] In essence, Scott viewed writing as a social act performed through a complex interaction of writer, audience, subject, and language.
Scott, in his work “A Substitute,” describes writing as: “essential for building character…moral courage, self-reliance, respect for the truth in every aspect…sympathy for our fellow human beings, and an active desire to help them and co-operate with them, a love of justice and fair play, belief in democratic institutions, [and] loyalty to our republic.”[4]
[4] In Two Ideals of Composition Instruction, Scott argued that mastering the right sort of English was crucial for the survival of the nation.
“Language [i]s the mode by which culture is imparted…and with mastery of the mother tongue [came] the obligation to use this great instrument for the training and instruction of the souls of the citizens.”[4] Scott saw a number of factors threatening this.
In his essay English Composition as a Mode of Behavior, Scott probed the causes of the errors occurring in the transmission of values reflected in the language that was necessary for the perpetuation of the culture.
[4] Scott determined that there were two main causes for the student errors that came out of the breakup of community during this period: the influence of spoken foreign languages and the breaking up of the family tradition.