Who Owns School?
Authority, Students, and Online Discourse

by Kelly Ritter

New Dimensions in Computers and Composition Series
eds. Cynthia Selfe and Gail Hawisher
Hampton Press, 2010


Reviewed by Rita Malenczyk
Director, University Writing Program and Writing Center
Eastern Connecticut State University










Introduction   



What About Freire?



The Pink Monkey



Psst! Wanna Buy A...?



And His Pants Are Ugly



Conclusions



Opinions



References and Credits

Citing Ann Berthoff, Ritter notes that though (for Berthoff) the teacher in a liberatory classroom is “highly evolved from the traditional role of teacher as giver of knowledge and classroom controller,” nevertheless "the teacher still must exist—and in many ways, takes on a heightened structural importance in the classroom, as a political voice and organizer of men (and women), rather than simply an instrument of the state (or educational system).  Such increased social value placed upon the teacher-figure inevitably leads to increased moral value as well, elevating the classroom to a status that becomes vaguely spiritual, nearly holy" (pp.19-20). (back)