"Inventing the University" reminded me of the exercise we did in class today where we were suppose to write with authority about something we know nothing about. I am certainly not a lumberjack and no one in our class is an Olympic water polo champion or a master chef. Yet, we all knew how to sound like we knew what we were talking about. We spoke with confidence, added some jargon, recounted personal experiences that would qualify us as knowledgeable.
When students are given a writing assignment, they try to write with authority; they try and sound like a teacher because their audience is their teacher.
If normal discourse is established knowledge (according to Bruffee) then academic discourse is an entirely separate and specialized discourse. Students are trying to assume knowledge of this specialized discourse, but the problem is that they are not authorities. However, they try to act as such towards their audience (their teachers) by trying to mimic the voice of a teacher. Bartholomae says that it is the university's faults for not including enough projects where students have the opportunity to act as colleges. However, their are some students, according to Bartholomae, who know how to manipulate their audience. These students can write from a privileged perspective because they fully understand their audience. Students alter their writing style in order to match what they perceive academia is expected from them. Students write the way they do because they are trying to assume authority on a style they they do not own. So, they "invent the university" by writing to fit what they think the university expects from them.
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