University:
University of La Verne
Course:
RCS 110 | College Writing
Academic year:

2024
Views:

65

Pages:

2
Author:

Mayte P.

After reading Smith's, "No One Has a Right to His Own Language," explain the three most important takeaways from the text. Remember to introduce and quote them directly, cite the page number, and follow each quote with an analysis of the quoted information. Be sure to respond to each quote critically, explaining in detail your response to it and how it relates to your current views or experiences with writing. Then identify two points that you found problematic or disagree with; quote them and explain what you found problematic or why you don't agree. Conclude your response with your final takeaways or overall views about the argument Smith espouses. (250 words). First of all, Smith uses first person to argue his claim in this persuasive essay, I guess you could say, and at the same time this “essay” is more than 5 paragraphs long. So, therefore it could also be a persuasive article rather than an essay. This is sort of strange since one of his very main points in this text is that the “past” writing skills taught in first year composition should still continue to be taught and used. Unlike what is going on in modern day. He doesn’t agree that the first year writing teaching standards of the past should be removed and forgotten today. The text states “No one has a right to ‘their own’ language.” (Smith 155). By this statement he refers to what certain first year composition teachers believe and are teaching now, and he shows his distaste towards that by making that statement mentioned above. This leads to the second important takeaway from the text, which is that the author disagrees with the fact that “Students have a right to their own language” (Smith 155). In our previous assignment we saw in the article “First Year Composition Prepares Students for Academic Writing” by Branson, the viewpoint supported was that students should have a right to the use of their language by not facing limitations taught in the past. Smith’s viewpoint in this text is very much the opposite of the previous text we read by Branson. The third takeaway of this text by Smith is that people with high vocabulary and high standards of writing teachings from the past, are most likely to become successful as compared to others. The text states “...success often is correlated with high vocabulary..” (Smith 156). This is one of the statements made by Smith that lead us to see what his takeaway is. I honestly do agree with this quote to an extent. I think people have more of a higher chance of success with higher vocabulary because when your vocabulary is limited, your chances of success may be limited as well. Unfortunately that’s just how society can be sometimes. To conclude, I disagree with the quote from Smith mentioned above in the 1st takeaway but agree with the quote from the 2nd takeaway. Students do have a right to their own language because everyone has different ways of articulating their own thoughts and then as well with the way they present them in their writing. Their options should not be limited because of the past. This is contrary to what Smith states in “No One has a right to his own language”.

Challenging Smith's Traditionalist Stance

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