Graduation Term
2021
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Department of English
Committee Chair
Robert Broad
Abstract
76 pages
Suffering from a personal crisis of passivity in his teaching of writing and personal composition in the public sphere, Soper looks for inspiration and guidance through a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary inquiry into the disciplines of composition, teaching high school English Language Arts, and practicing Kendo, the Japanese Way of the Sword. Soper reflects not only on his personal crisis borne of the socio-political landscape of the current moment but calls for and promotes a redemption of our public discourse in the interest of battling our shared exigencies: the dual-crises of trust in our democratic institutions and our global environmental crisis. Soper investigates how he can seize the opportunity to contribute to finding solutions for these various crises by considering the kendo concept of ki-ken-tai-ichi, which is the standard for a successful strike in kendo.KEYWORDS: Rhetoric, composition, kendo, crisis, project-based learning, English Language Arts
Access Type
Thesis-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Soper, Clinton Alexander, "The Pen Is the Sword: Fighting by Writing for Our Future" (2021). Theses and Dissertations. 1473.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/1473
DOI
https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2021.20211012065806770084.999952