Disciplinarity and Exploitation: Compositionists as Good Professionals

Abstract

Why was the emergence of "composition studies," the achievement of "disciplinarity" by a fortunate minority of compositionists, neatly paralleled by the deepening exploitation of composition's most numerous teachers, the teaching assistants, part-timers, and other contingent workers? Why did a few directors "get grants, rank, and tenure" while growing numbers of classroom teachers remained overworked, underpaid, and insecure? Why did the conventional ambition of good professionals end in bossdom?