14 May 2018: "One has but to examine a considerable number of the Doctors' theses in the library of any great university to be at once struck by the patiently wrought-out results of a great mass of mediocre observations." --John Harrington Cox, writing in 1913 about "The Best Preparation for the College Teacher of English."
This little project that I am working on about Lucy Larcom and her connection to some of the debates about gender, labor, and teaching today has led me to some fascinating analyses from over 100 years ago. It is strange how little has changed. Even in 1900, people were worried about compensation, work-load, and quality in/of composition instruction, for instance. And people were already concerned about the disconnect between the kind of research/writing graduate students completed and the kind of teaching they were doing. Cox's little bit of shade (quoted above) made me laugh out loud, even as I treasure and see value in my own little "mediocre observations."
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