The Vocation of a Teacher: Rhetorical Occasions, 1967-1988

by Wayne C. Booth

Book Overview

This critically acclaimed collection is both a passionate celebration of teaching as a vocation and an argument for rhetoric as the center of liberal education. While Booth provides an eloquent personal account of the pleasures of teaching, he also vigorously exposes the political and economic scandals that frustrate even the most dedicated educators.

" Booth] is unusually adept at addressing a wide variety of audiences. From deep in the heart...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226065820
• ISBN13: 9780226065823
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

a goldmine of helpful ideas for beginning teachers...

In addition to more seriously theoretical works such as The Rhetoric of Fiction and The Rhetoric of Irony, Booth has left us with many essays that deal with the practical aspects of teaching literature and writing. This book is one of the collections of such essays. In this regard, Booth in this book can be grouped together with Gerald Graff and Robert Scholes, who have more recently published books on closely related topics (English as a discipline, teaching English/writing). I cannot but suspect that Booth is somewhat unjustly under-appreciated among teachers of English. In the Pedagogy/Teaching Practicum class I was in, for instance, Booth was never even mentioned (except by me) while both Graff and Scholes were read and discussed seriously. From my experience of reading all three, however, I am sure that, as far as the "ideals" of teaching composition classes is concerned, Booth offers the most helpful and insightful ideas. One essay, originally a speech given to the freshman class of the University of Chicago in 1970, "What's Supposed to Be Going on Here?," is especially noteworthy. In the space of 9 pages, Booth succinctly delineates the goals and methods of liberal education. What he suggests is specific enough to be readily applicable in any freshman composition classes, and yet at the same time, is so widely encompassing to be read as a moving statement on "the aim of education." I began teaching a year ago and have taught three composition classes so far. Whenever I felt lost and had the need to remind me of what I am teaching and why, "What's Supposed to Be Going on Here?" gave me the help I wanted. His brilliance is in giving such clear and specific definition to the ever-so-vague term "intellectual freedom." To him, it is simply (of course, is it really that simple?, we may ask) our ability to truly carry out converstations with other minds. We learn to read and write to cultivate this ability, that is, to know what others really mean and to give others what we want to mean. In this definition of "intellectual freedom," intellectual independence comes from the keen awareness of dependence and interconnectedness of ideas. This was something I often mused about since I read it. It would be food for thought for me for some more while as I continue teaching.

a bolt from the blue

How do I begin to describe the power of this book? I was at the Oulu library (Finland), spotted an attractive paperback whose title promised something more than light intellectual fare, and I proceeded to read the first page. I must have been there, standing in the middle of the library, absorbed, for something like 30 minutes solid before my wife (who'd been anxiously searching for me) tore me away me away from the most fulfilling "conversation" I've had in yonks. This happened to be my first and most formative encounter with Booth's delightful, witty and utterly engaging manner. I'll never forget it. The powerful insights coupled with a disarming style is one of the many features that has made Booth a favorite among my intellectual friends (in the form of books). Anyone who reads a single page of this fascinating book will recognize that he or she is in the presence of an accomplished rhetorician. It is a pleasure and an inspiration to "dialogue" with such a writer-thinker, deeply engaged as he is with a subject that he loves so passionately and shares so eloquently.

A wonderful book

Mr. Booth's book is exquisite--a thoughtful contemplation of what it means to teach English, how one teacher went about doing it, and his reflections on his successes and failures (not too many failures in here; would that we could all teach so well). I felt inspired after reading this book, just in time for the beginning of a new semester, and 50 new students!