Johns and Harris Discourses Response.

In the discourse of both Johns and Downs -- articles focusing again on the discourses and communities in which professional writing often finds itself.

In Johns' discourse the thought is poured into what community is being written for and why. It also examines why writers join communities and what useful tools these communities can become in a professional setting.

Over and over again the text stops and asks writers to question why they are writing -- this  is to make sure they're using the most applicable voice to create their work. The questions asked range from which type of community this is being written for, profession or personal etc., to what the goals and objectives of the writing truely are.

Later in the Discourse the relation between this and how students are written for is drawn. The article reads, "Some students cannot recognize when they are being talked down to in text books" (p509).
Saying that textbooks are written with a goal to educate students, however students very seldom reason see this point in the textbooks. The information is of course "dumbed-down" to a level easily understood by students.

This statement definitely relates to my field of study -- seeing that many national studies claim most of American reads a fourth grade level. It's the job of the media to thus take information seen as pertinent to the public and by the public and spoon feed it to them in a way they'll easily understand. The more easy information is for readers to understand, free of jargon and over-the-head vocabulary, the more quickly the information will be transpired across.

In the other discourse, the one regarding Harris, my favorite part of the article is found on page 587 where the discussion of communities as too much of a safety blanket for students and writings come into place. The idea that students may turn to asking so many questions about what's expected knowledge within their community that when asked to regurgitate the knowledge there's no knew thought to it. And the original point of a community is to fee off one another with new ideas while stile maintaining common ground.

Later in the discourse the article reads, "I would like to urge an even more specific and material view of community: one that, like a city, allows for both consensus and conflict, and that holds room for ourselves, our disciplinary colleagues, our university coworkers, and our students" (p591). This idea suggests that communities must, in Harris's opinion, join together to create common ground and work for better truths, however conflict must also be allowed to resonate in the group in order to allow for growth and continuation of modernization and success.

I agree that if communities want to stay active and strong as time progresses they must hold stern to the successes they've found throughout working together, but must also be able to let go of their failures and make room for improvements in thought and methods.