Johns Reading

Summary:
Johns' article is yet another reading about discourse community. However, this article goes into detail on three different kinds of membership among discourse communities: social, political and recreational. This section also discusses how easy/possible it is to belong to multiple communities. (They do not have to be strictly professional). However, most communities are professional. Within the professional community, there are organizations, practices, textual conventions and genres that are special to that profession only. There are also academic communities which include their own basic, generalizable linguistic, textual, and rhetorical rules for the community to utilize. Like every community, there are conflicts: and John brings up this topic in paragraph 47. She goes on to say that for whatever reason, people are sometimes excluded from communities because of lack of social standing, talent, or money. There is also a 'cost of affiliation' that goes along with being a part of a discourse community. It also discusses sacrifices that are sometimes made to free up time and energy to be a part of a discourse community. There are also issues in authority regarding discourse communities because they are technically not a list of people, it is more of a cloud of people- there is no elected leader, or someone making executive decisions. It is every man for himself.

Questions For Discussion 1-6
1. Johns outlines complications regarding discourse community membership including having to make sacrifies. Discourse communities also struggle with issues with authority and decision making, and proper critique.
2. This means that a fresh outlook (a newcomer) is entering a situation with an unbias opinion and seeing flaws in the system and suggesting, or forcing, corrections to be made in order for the community to function at it's highest productivity level. With the goal being to advance themselves functionally, and intellectually as much as possible. These critiques and changes would then be beneficial and only be pushing the group along to future successes.
3. I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for in an answer, but I have a specific memory of being in my sophomore biology class and learning about evolution, and there were some people in the class that really got fired up about having to hear about evolution when they are creationists. It wasn't me that was being introduced to a new discourse community, but rather them. However, the teacher was asking them to write an essay on the topic, and they were definitely stepping outside of their comfort zones to look beyond their morals and their beliefs, and be asked to think broader.
4. I think that her claim is true, however I think that it is a positive thing. For the most part, as far as I know, it is not a bad thing to learn a new language- and it doesn't really interviene on my morals and personal beliefs. When I was learning French, I was doing so because I needed to fill a requirement for high school graduation. Either I don't understand this question accurately, or I'm missing the point of the question, but I do not think learning a new language would ruin my identity or personal beliefs.
5. I feel inferior to the texts I have been assigned for the most part. I trust that the professors know that I don't already know everything there is to know about my major- and that is why they assign the readings. However, I do have to say- there were a few assignments from my teacher education class that seemed a little silly. I probably could have done without the 'teacher ettiquette' reading assignment. But for the most part, I find myself inferior, and they are important to my education.
6. I do believe/agree that rule breaking is a hit or miss thing. It depends on the professor, and obviously the context. Sometimes it is the smartest thing you have ever thought of, but the teacher is absolutely blown away that you had the audacity to even think about it- or vice versa. You're afraid of being docked credit, so you play it safe- and the professor would have been okay with it, had they seen it. In my senior lit class last year, I used a different font for one of the words in the title of my final paper of the year and I thought my teacher was going to hit the ceiling. He was pissed. I convinced him thought that it was a mistake and I meant to italisize it.

MetaMoment
I think that after reading Johns' article, I think that discourse communities are a lot more intricate than I previously thought about. I never thought that there would be a downside to belonging to a discourse community, but apparently that's possible. I also never really thought about the lack of authority within a DC. However, I now understand what that implies, and how it effects the group as a whole. It made me think about why I would not want to join a discourse community: I may have to write about things/think critically about things outside of my comfort/moral zone. However, I'm an 18 year old female college student...stepping outside of my "norm" and exploring others opinions and ideas is one of my favorite pasttimes.

My Own Thoughts
I think this article covered way too many aspects of discourse communities. I would have been cool with this one simply being about the downsides of discourse communties and their internal flaws. While I am open to her opinions, I think for the most part being a part of a discourse community would be a beneficial thing. For example: i am a part of a learning community and the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I was exposed to people who did not always agree with me and who came from different walks of life- but I think that is what makes people better- to be exposed to someone unlike themselves. All in all, long article, lots of points, lots of confusion.