Has writing really evolved over time?

Has writing really evolved over time? After reading A Brief History of Rhetoric and Composition, I wonder. We are still greatly influenced by the Roman five-stage model of speech composing and, although prewriting wasn’t really acknowledged until much later, its roots can most definitely be traced to the Roman stage of invention or discovering ideas.

As we look at writing today and the influences of culture and diversity within it (worldwide), I’m not sure that there can ever be a ‘standard’ discourse of writing anymore. I do fully believe though that writing can, and will, always function as a social thermometer regardless of where the writer lives or his/her circumstances.

I was not surprised to find out that once writing became redirected to serve religious as opposed to political ends, it became prescriptive, structured, and more rigid. I find that, to this day, organized religion, in general, is quite prescriptive, structured, and rigid! It is cool that Erasmus tried to revive the classics and was seeking history as a way to right the wrongs that he saw.
Wouldn’t Ramus’ idea “to clothe one’s ideas in the most elegant dress possible” just propagate elitist thought? And wasn’t that the plan? To keep the masses from acquiring this critical skill?

It’s plausible that we can trace our present-day challenges with diversity and how that wreaks havoc on “standard language” to this very mindset. Even back in the day, people argued against Ramus because they saw that writing, as a tool, could provide an outlet for showing virtue and moral code for all to learn by.

Bain’s work on essay structure makes me, again, question whether we really are “inventing” writing or just “reinventing” it. Of course we write to produce desired emotions. And how many different structures are there?

It’s the rigidity that kept writing from becoming a vehicle for all social classes to use. When the rules, structure, and even specific lists of approved authors were only taught to the few, then the “many” are conveniently not allowed that outlet. And that was planful. That was political to keep the “masses” from being able to mobilize through the written word. I like knowing that NCTE was really an outgrowth of similar frustrations.