I’m not sure why I’m having such a hard time digesting the analogy of the composition classroom as  coffee house. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that as much as we try to break down these authoritative barriers between teacher-student, we have to admit that they ultimately still exist. Can natural language actually occur in a space that is purportedly egalitarian, but where only the student expect that her grade rests upon her participation in coffee house chatter? What is natural language anyway? Is this a dangerous term? What about the fact that the coffee house-as space-is sometimes exclusionary? Does everyone drink coffee, frequent coffee houses, or participate in that kind of community? I’m sure I’m taking this too far–and this is the result of a 7am conversation with my roommate–but I don’t know how to reconcile this new classroom experience with the old paradigms of the educational institution–namely grades. Is grading just as outdated as the banking method?