This article examines statements about humanistic education, basing its critique on both style and content. Part One attempts to locate humanistic education in the context of reformist movements in education and psychology. Part Two considers the movement's self-explanation and attempts to divine assumptions underlying its various justifications.…

Describes a course in which students were assigned to read magazine articles, label sections according to informative discourse types, mark cohesive ties and cue words, and pick out details. Reports that, by reviewing the articles, students gained an understanding of the "general audience" and of how to read their own writings more objectively.…

Examines the use of narrative form to construct myths of self in autobiographies of religious conversion. Identifies two strategies of form relevant to personal mythmaking in conversion narratives and illustrates their operation in Charles W. Colson's autobiography, "Born Again." Concludes that the rhetoric of form in conversion…

Explores the ways in which nonscientists inform themselves and make decisions about complex and technological controversies. Explores the prejudice against emotion in a 1976-77 case before the Cambridge Experimentation Review Board. Suggests that, in spite of some cultural bias against pathos, emotional appeals play a vital role in the shaping of…

Discusses the post-presidential writings of Richard Nixon. Finds an overarching concern for the "will," which permitted Nixon to transform the standards of higher moral principle into the politics of expediency. Views Nixon's writings as a symptom of the ailing health of public morality in liberal society. (SR)

Examines the performances of Geraldine Ferraro and George Bush in the nationally televised vice-presidential debate in 1984 to determine differences in female and male patterns of communication concerning issues and decision-making. Suggests that rhetorical critics examine whether a masculine ethic has framed their analyses. (KEH)

Considers the attempts of some rhetors, when accused publicly through news media, to shift blame onto the reporting media by questioning their coverage. Defines this strategy as a "role imbalance attack" that deflects criticism away from a rhetor. Discusses the factors influencing the success of this strategy. (HB)

Addresses the problem of school-sponsored assemblies featuring guest speakers who present creation science on school premises. A science teacher who spoke at a follow-up assembly established two goals: (1) to present authoritative information about evolution; and (2) to help students evaluate the creation speaker's arguments against evolution.…

Describes a seven-week critical-inquiry unit in a writing course for college sophomores that studies the 1953 Rosenberg trial. Uses this unit to illustrate the importance of dissonance in learning development, and how rhetorical inquiry in Kenneth Burke's concept of "perspective by incongruity" leads to critical inquiry and deeper…

In this article, the author discusses the contradictory goals of several groups and individuals that are waging war against social studies and the historians' attitudes in response to this war. He stresses that he is not claiming that these "strange bedfellows," as he comes to call them, that are attacking social studies are working in…

This article provides a response to the previous papers. It sets out a descriptive overview of the National College for School Leadership and then discusses issues of: scale; on-the-job learning; innovation as technological and networking; start-up organizations; leadership effects; international awareness; evaluating leadership and impact. The…

The central focus in this article is that how language is used can constitute the basis for power relations. In the first place, power functions through linguistic expressions in relationships of superiority and subordination (commands, reprimands etc.). Secondly, language acts can appear as representations of discourse, i.e. linguistic and…

To address a need for increased discussion of the dangers of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and an increased educative effort to prevent people from acquiring HIV infection, a study investigated one element of an AIDS campaign of the past: the "America Responds to AIDS" television and radio public service announcements…

The case under study was a staff development program devoted to methods for instructional grouping called "cooperative learning." In this case study, the rhetoric of cooperative learning for mainstreaming was tested by examining the words and actions of teachers and administrators for congruence with rhetorical devices. Three kinds of information…

Based on the premise that existing research into terrorism shows great promise, this paper notes that, despite widespread recognition of terrorism's communicative dimensions, few studies have been done from within the discipline of speech communication. The paper defines the discipline of speech communication and rhetorical studies, reviews the…