Mentioning reader-response was my wimpy attempt to subvert having to make categorical statements about what the author was trying to do. If I learned anything about theory as an English concentrator, I know not to assign any importance to authorial intent.
In an absolute moral sense, I have an absolute moral problem with making absolute statements about subjects that inherently rely on absolutes. After two years, I don't remember exactly what I meant by that phrase in my paper. It seems redundant now, not to mention totally devoid of meaning. I suppose it was just one of those late night instances where the words sounded good together.
I HAVE A MILLION more examples of this selling out in my own papers. I'm sure other people do too. Even in this article, I have structurally decomposed one of my own sentences and used empty jargon which is, in itself, selling out.
Most students probably have only one question about this issue--does it work? Well, sure. That's what all of those check marks in the margins, the "v. good's" and the "interesting points" are for in the margins of our papers.
But we get the good comments because our teaching fellows are in exactly the same position as we are. They have to write to please professors and boards of administrators who might hire them. Junior professors do the same to get tenure. The only people who get to say what they want in any way they want are tenured professors.
As students, we are just the bottom of the academic brown-nosing ladder. In theory, we get concerned about the lack of academic freedom for untenured instructors. We feel that they should be able to say whatever they want without fear of repercussions when university committees decide promotions.
What are we doing in our papers that is any different? We don't get published, that's about all. We do, however, write for an audience. But it is supposed to be a general academic one. The fact that only one other person is really ever going to read most of our writing shouldn't scare us into trying to conform to their likes and dislikes.
Tipping the grade scale, therefore, shouldn't be our first consideration. Undergraduates should be exempt from the academic theory feeding frenzy. While we are learning to write papers, we should make an attempt to say what we think first. Academic honesty should be our only priority. Let us not bow to jargon-jockeying this early in our lives.
At three a.m., I always wimp out and opt for jargon-jockeying because I think that my TF will like it.
Ever time I write a paper, I step onto the long ladder of academic brown-nosing.