In “The Status of Basic
Writing: Do We Need a Maryland Resolution,” Jeanne Gunner discusses the language
of personal statements, including the
Wyoming Resolution, the Statement of Principles and Standards of the Conference
on College Composition and Communication, and the Portland Resolution of the
Writing Program Administrators. However, it is the Wyoming Resolution most
usefully addresses the issues that concern basic writing instructors, providing
for professional self-definition and solidarity as well as recognition of
teaching as a central and viable intellectual activity. Yet, Gunner is still
not satisfied with this resolution. She
argues that its rhetoric separates its members from institutional power structures. Gunner writes,
Our failure, I argue, is due to the fact that we
have yet to constitute ourselves as a professional group. Instead, we have been
content with our identity as composition's version of the Peace Corps,
volunteer teachers going into the educational hinterlands to do good in the
face of appalling conditions, assuaging the larger profession's social guilt, and
expected to find our labor its own reward. (Jones 61)
In other words, Gunner
is arguing for status for teachers of basic writing and pedagogy—faculty who
teach mostly minority and under-served populations. Although, a lot of this work is done on
ethical grounds, Gunner argues that now it is time for basic writing teachers
to be recognized materially in the form of a resolution that would legitimize
their profession. Ultimately, this
resolution would serve two purposes: self-definition of them and their field.
To accomplish this task, Gunner asks, “Do we need a Maryland resolution”?
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