There is no escaping the oral, but many people believe that it is detachable and not central. A dominant, assumed belief conveys the idea that spoken words (like knowledge in writing) are escapable. This belief is held by people who tacitly view speaking as a convenient tool that can be applied as necessary. Scholar-teachers know that it is not the case that language is one more commodity, even though it frequently becomes that. David Bleich explicates the issue in "Subjective Criticism," writing that the public commitment in language training schools is "rooted...in centuries of habitual religious thinking." History is important in the understanding of the spoken, but history is only useful if it is truly understood. When current writing pedagogy uses classical Greek rhetoric, it must acknowledge that rhetoric arose and became powerful in a culture dominated by the triad of slavery, rape, and imperialism, all of which not only informed the culture but enabled the culture to exist. A related pedagogical, oral issue also needs investigation: the revolution in thinking brought about by the electronic forms of consciousness, all of which are oral. While film has been elaborately theorized, video, including television, has not. Writing teachers need to recognize that writing, reading, and television all have oral bases and are not discrete activities to be cordoned off for school or leisure--this requires a change in the general attitude within the discipline of English studies toward writing pedagogy. (Contains 14 references and 4 notes.) (TB)