Seton Hill University’s (SHU) new focus on students attending conferences is fabulous. Students who are interested in spelunking through the world of extended-Academia in large hotel ballrooms are now able to do so, provided they can write up a proposal and get admitted into the conference.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Conference on College Composition and Communication (4C�s) in New York City with another student, a SHU graduate, and a SHU professor.
By Mike Rubino,
Senior Staff Writer
Seton Hill University’s (SHU) new focus on students attending conferences is fabulous. Students who are interested in spelunking through the world of extended-Academia in large hotel ballrooms are now able to do so, provided they can write up a proposal and get admitted into the conference.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Conference on College Composition and Communication (4C�s) in New York City with another student, a SHU graduate, and a SHU professor.
The four of us presented on a panel at the conference, and got to sit in on a number of other talks dealing with composition, English, and teaching.
Now, if you plan on going to an academic conference any time soon, there is something I have to warn you about. Something so exclusive and alienating, something I call �academic buzz words.� You see, just as kids like to use phrases that come and go like fads (because who says �radical� or �keen� anymore?), citizens of Academia do the same.
At first it is off-putting, and then, once you begin to understand what these people are saying, it becomes contagious. In no time fast you�ll be able to hang with the head of the class.
Let’s work through an example together: say you want to attend a panel called �The Pedagogy of Collaborative Dialogues in Multicultural, Gender-Neutral Rhetoric when Defining Identity.� This could easily be something you would like to see, so it’s important you know what it means. This particular phrase is actually deceptively simple, and could really just mean �How Teachers can get Students to Work in Groups.�
In order to translate such overly complex jargon, it’s important to really break down the meaning of each word. �Pedagogy� is just a fancy term for �teaching strategies.�
The phrase �Collaborative Dialogues� may seem a tad on the redundant side, since you can’thave a dialogue without collaborating with someone, but really it means �working together for peace.�
You�ll hear a lot of people talk about how a �dialogue� will solve the world’s problems, and practicing �dialogues� in the classroom is really the first step to world peace.
The next two phrases go together quite nicely: �Multicultural, Gender-Neutral.� If you break these words down, their meaning becomes evident.
Multiculturalism is a loaded phrase for �people of different backgrounds,� or �multiple cultures.� Gender-Neutrality is a little different, because it doesn’tmean �boys AND girls,� but rather �people who are neither boys NOR girls.� It means ignoring any sort of natural difference between boys and girls, and making them the same. This makes pronoun use a heck of a lot easier.
Hang in there, we�re coming down the home stretch. �Rhetoric� means �high talking� (and not in the Seinfeld-sense) and �Defining� means �putting your finger on.� Finally there is �Identity,� the newest and hottest buzz word in Academia.
Basically, it’s a leftist way of saying �Individualism.� If Academia was to use the word �Individualist,� they would be conjuring up all sorts of conservative ideals leading back to Barry Goldwater and Ayn Rand … and that cannot be allowed.
So you see, just as students today talk about getting �krunked� and bringing �SexyBack,� Academics that you�ll meet at these conferences will talk about �Identity� and �Pedagogy.�
Once you learn all of the jargon and buzz words involved, you�ll be truly set to make a splash at the next big academic conference.
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