personal writing

The piece by Conners on personal writing pulled me in surprisingly quickly. I got absorbed in the talk about days gone by when students were disciplined enough to read text after text and use those texts to describe abstract concepts. Then we get to the nineteenth century, and something changes. There is pressure to let students "express themselves." Individualism begins to overshadow imitation. According to the article, the Romantic movement had a lot to do with this. And then, all of a sudden, Conners keeps on talking about what kinds of topics students write about now, compared to what they wrote before. "Mountains" versus "A Tramp to the Mountains." This is the beginning of the modern composition course. So, I was reading this and then it occured to me, who decided that writing about one's own life experiences was better than basing one's writing on previous authors? I'm not saying it was a bad move, I just like to know who came up with this stuff. I really wondered, why was there a change in the first place? Was it the student's idea or the teacher's?
I can't help thinking about how cultural changes affect education. At one time the typical American family ran a farm and produced their own food and clothing. It was a lifestyle similar to the Amish way. In fact, now that I think about it, the Amish still pretty much learn in the way of the classical tradition. They are given text that they are told to imitate when writing up their reports. Personal writing is discouraged and runs counter to the values of the society. But now, with individualism being the big thing, and everyone seeking personal fulfillment, it makes perfect sense that writing should become egocentric also.
But while we're all out there, exploring ourselves and describing our life experiences and learning what makes us tick, I think it's important to remember that in some way, shape, or form, these stories have been told before. I love to write, I love to tell stories, and I like to think I will eventually find a new way to tell an old story. But I've read Shakespeare and Austin, among others, and I know that there's nothing that I can think of that those two probably haven't already written about. This isn't a bad thing. I'm all for personal writing, and journaling, and what-not, but I also think it's important to read the works of those who came before us. That way, when we, and our students, are writing about that day when we lost our first tooth, or when we finally got that A in Math we struggled for, we can see that we are not the only ones this has ever happened to. And this should unite us, and remind us that in spite of what our individualistic culture likes us to believe, we are not alone.