76 College English service to the rest of the academy, Heath crgues, bears litde or no relevance to many working-class students’ needs. 3 of our si ke d themselv« Richard Sennett, coauthor of the 1972 Hidden Injuries of Class, observes in his more recent The Corrosion of Character that it’s this feeling of aimlessness that leads to a corrosion of character: “The condi- ‘tions of time in the new capitalism have created a conflict between character and experience, the experience of disjointed time threatening the ability of people to form their characters into sustained narratives” (31). For our students from the work- ing class who dip into a co number of years, and may never finish, chiffragmentaion of times magnified.) Tine | fLvcmmen Of fme Sennett, along with many in our owa field (Fishman; and Swilky), ar- gues that narrative provides shape, order, coherence to events beyond our control. ‘Narrative is more than a simple chronological rendering of events. Narratives, says Tiwi 1 velunen to HLLOetonamty Stu tus th va resents Ks P. Thompson says that class is d by men [and women] as they live their own history” (11). Narrative provides one way of interpreting and ordering a history. Devaluing narra- lop a class conscious-{\ (XU VL WY _retanve tv Class (onewt#2-> & not simply expect students to adopt our ways of thinking uncritically. We cannot take for granted our own ways of thinking. We are a middle-clasfemtemeo the, @ yt + extent that we emphasize the value of delayed gratification. We ask our studeits to look to their futures rather than to their pasts. We ask our students to accept mean- WO MIL ing that has already been created. Bugd@itwGason ‘ o vqjuniie hun tai 1 not so easily dismiss narrative in compesition. Patricia R. Webb argues that the reason narratives hold so little value in the acader joseviniay qoviahon Perhaps ty have already determined, too, wth whom students [GOAT NG from all social classes will identify. Thepezsona naa, dgnes Martha Masinrs, Atademens gives us “the unique opportunity to help students negotiate the borders between yower This coi dowaoudd frm 12021025570 on Te, ‘Alle sebjet to IS1O8 lene and