The relationship between Cultural Studies and Composition is clearly a hotly debated topic, and frankly, makes me a little nervous. I found myself agreeing pretty strongly with Hairston's critque. It seems that the debate centers around the question of what is the goal of a Composition course? The simple answer seems to be to teach students how to write well (well meaning any variety of other adjectives/adverbs: clearly, well organized, thoughtfully, etc). I cannot understand how political or social activisim fits in with this goal.
The main reason the connection between politics, specifically a certain stance within politics, and the teaching of composition makes me nervous is because it can breech on an abuse of power. Part of teaching composition seems to be teaching how to think, or at least how to express one's thoughts so that another may understand them. Mixing in a political agenda would seem to change the outcome from teaching students how to think to teaching them what to think. Aside from the potential ethical issues with this situtation, I know from experience that this is a great way to turn off many students.
I can recall as an undergraduate (and even at times now as a Graduate student) being so irritated at a professor for using his/her classroom as a political soapbox. Regardless of the slant, I found it offensive and ultimately lost respect for the professor and the course. I think that recognizing and grappling with difficult or even uncomfortable cultural, historical, and political issues can be good exercises within a class. However, doing so with a specific political agenda seems flat out unethical. There is a difference between admitting biases as a professor (and a human being) and using the fact that bias is inevitable as an excuse to promote a specific political agenda. There is merit to admitting bias but still attempting to be fair in the presentation of material and topics.
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Indeed, as Hairston makes clear, the potential is strong for abusing one's inevitable power as the teacher in the classroom. This debate remains alive and well in classrooms at many levels, and while some might argue that one can never escape politics and ideological stances, your practical examples and honest reactions make it clear what the costs may be. I can only hope that somehow a careful balance may be struck so as not to alienate students.
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