To speak with authority

In an influential text on writing studies called “Inventing the University,” author and professor David Bartholomae write about the challenges that students face when trying to write with authority. At one point in the article he makes the following statement:

 

“To speak with authority they have to speak not only in another’s voice but through another’s code; and they not only have to do this, they have to speak in the voice and through the codes of those of us with power and wisdom; and they not only have to do this, they have to do it before they know what they are doing, before they have a project to participate in, and before, at least in terms of our disciplines, they have anything to say.”

 

How would Malcolm X most likely respond to this statement from Bartholomae? Consider the ways he might try to support, refute, and/or complicate the ideas above, and craft an argument regarding his overall response to them.

 

Keep in mind that your essay should be coherent, that it should be grammatically correct, that it should support general points with specific examples and careful reasoning, and that it should respond to the question asked. Be sure to save enough time and energy to proofread your essay well. You have the entire period to write.