Williams really layers his chapters--so far-- with some dense material. Chapter 2 illustrates, nicely, the concept of induction versus deduction approach to writing. The " Bottom-up" system which William describes allows for the obvious flaws in today's writing pedagogy to show itself. The argumentation, which this system ignores, provides the distinction between--I think--synthesized and developing writing and sheer regurgitating of micro- factual information (45).
In our own writing--and this stands out more clearly when we read the writings of others--the realization of audience plays a big part in the effectiveness of the work. Where the contemporary writing pedagogy fails us is effort and constructing with small pieces and trying fit them nicely into the universal. It's more than just dwelling on the mechanics and the parts of the whole; it;s about forgetting the whole itself.
While I must apologize for my lack of adequately and expressively articulating my intended meaning--though as Chomsky may very well have insisted that I have developed an internalized grammar"-- I have yet realized how to express it.
It seems to me that writing owns a place in epistemological circles. I my self had not, as a young child, been exposed to any other form of rhetoric which would allow for the "writing to learn" process to take hold. Simply, as this chapter nicely exposes this shortcoming, my education
has insisted on including literary works that were suppose to expand my thinking powers, reinforce my intellectual mettle to the point where I would bravely go where I hadn't gone before. I would squeeze, extract what I thought to be credible inferences from the works I read. I therefore believed these inferences made me smarter! Who knew?
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