Capitalism and Hierarchy
Within the structure of capitalism is an embedded hierarchy. Lois Tyson explains capitalism and hierarchy in Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. A capitalist country, like America, supports socioeconomic inequalities by allowing production, such as natural, financial, and human resources, to be "privately owned and...those who own them inevitably become the dominant class" (54). Even in the grading structure of our schools, a hierarchy is created that categorizes students into letter grades: A, B, C, D, and F. Both teachers and students continue to support the capitalistic hierarchy of the university system by adhering to particular standards that "other" those who cannot reach the mark of what is considered success in a classroom.
Colonial implications within literature involve the universal acceptance of canon literature and themes that adhere to a certain set of British or American standards. Postcolonialism analyzes how the subversion of canon literature cannot be solved by simply replacing a set of texts with more culturally diverse ones. Instead, canon needs to be recognized as a set of reading practices that "are resident in institutional structures, such as education curricula and publishing networks" (Ashcroft 186). The subversion of a canon involves the bringing-to-conciousness the articulation of these practices and the "reconstruction of the so-called canonical texts through alternative reading practices" (187). These literature implications, in conjunction with composition, pose similar situations.
Academic writing courses are supposed to teach students the skills to succeed in a capitalist society after the completion of college. Perhaps the subversion of academic writing would involve a bringing-to-conciousness approach of these capitalist practices and ways of implementing a more user-friendly version of the teaching of writing, one that not only teaches the necessary skills to survive our global economy but a critical approach at analyzing the structures that subvert us. Some effective suggestions I would want to see in more writing classrooms that would break the monotony of the typical structure of writing an essay and receiving a grade are learning journals, reading meditations, and portfolios, which include anything written by the student while in the class.
Portfolios, learning journals, and reading meditations are further discussed in the section: