PoMo Blues

Carroll's essay discusses the roles that students and teachers have come to define themselves in over the years, and they way the post modern movement attempts to deconstruct these roles. She says the student is traditionally seen as "infantilized" and that this is just a social construction. The "staff" that teaches this student is also socially constructed. I was reminded of the Bartholomae/Elbow debate, because both of them as well as Carroll seem driven to help validate student texts. But Carroll points out this obstacle: if the roles of student and teacher have been socially constructed and engrained in the classroom environment, then it is no surprise that the student essays themselves will follow the same patterns, the same social constructions. Every story has to have a happy ending, or some character building reason for turning out bad.
I recognized my own college essay in the categories that Carroll listed. These are what we think will get us into college, and what is reinforced for us when we read books and magazines on getting into college. We are told to play the game and follow those rules. Sticking with the mainstream and doing what our high school teacher said got us into college, so it feels a little strange to now be told to think for ourselves. Or, at least, when I read this essay, that's how I felt. It's a little unsettling to see someone else write about why I write what I write about.
I think Carroll is dead-on when she says that "the stories we tell are the stories that are culturally available to us to tell." And it's not just what we tell in our stories, but how we tell them. They are told in politically correct language and always have to have some degree of humility. Even a story of being raped is culturally acceptable at this point in time, as long as it follows the rules. With these constructions in mind, I think Carroll's problematizing assignment is a good one, and expanding on it further will help many writers realize where their voice ends and the culture's voice begins. If there is any distinction at all.