Reviving the Masters: Reuniting Contest Rhetorical Criticism With Rhetorical Scholarship

• In Event: Rethinking Contest Rhetorical Criticism: Honoring the substance of the discipline

Abstract

As an educational activity, contest rhetorical criticism both challenges students intellectually and engages them in the communication discipline like no other forensic event. However, when forensic fads and unwritten rules replace sound rhetorical pedagogy, the result is a shallow, cookie-cutter shell of a speech which can hardly be called argumentation. One practice which is particularly harmful is the dismissal of rhetorical theory or methodology based solely on the publication date or well-known status of the theorist. Reviving the theory generated by several of the “masters” of contemporary rhetorical theory points the way to an educationally enriching future.

Author

• R. Randolph Richardson, Berry College