{"id":65967,"date":"2021-03-19T08:14:59","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T14:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=65967"},"modified":"2021-03-19T08:28:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T14:28:32","slug":"65967","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=65967","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

TPTB don’t want a literate, intelligent people. They want an indoctrinated one that will do as they’re told. The word that comes to mind is ‘serfs<\/a>‘.<\/p>\n

\n

Comment O’ The Day: Sarah Hoyt-
\nUp to the first World War, books that were considered high literature and won awards were the ones that had allusions to Greek and Roman myth, or dropped other historical allusions, casually, into the prose. It was a way of saying \u201cI had an excellent education.\u201d These days excellent education in terms of expensive colleges means Marxism Leninism, so of course awards and admiration goes to the \u201cwoke\u201d stories that push \u201csocial justice.\u201d It\u2019s a way of screaming \u201cI have an excellent education.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

BUT at least the nineteenth and early twentieth century taught people to write so they could be understood.\u00a0 Now?\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m old enough to have taught some people who are teachers now and I can tell you, it only goes down from here.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Growing number of English, writing scholars prioritize social justice, reject \u2018standard\u2019 academic English.<\/a><\/p>\n

As critical race theory burgeons within higher education, writing centers have taken the cue, with a growing number trading in traditional grammar, spelling and punctuation corrections for a focus on antiracism.<\/p>\n

Examples range from subjectively disavowing writing that \u201cdenigrates\u201d others to mission statements that prioritize social justice over teaching students how to write well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe \u2026 must teach black students about anti-black linguistic racism and white linguistic supremacy,\u201d argues one group of scholars calling for \u201cBlack linguistic justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myriad examples of such efforts can be found on websites from university writing centers and English Departments.<\/p>\n

University of Michigan Sweetland\u2019s Center for Writing states in its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement that they \u201creject rhetoric that denigrates others based on any identity category, such as race, religion, gender expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, national origin, language, ethnicity, sex, ability status, socioeconomic status, age, body type, or political party.\u201d<\/p>\n

The University of Michigan English Language and Literature Department confirms that their department is still not \u201cfree of [systematic racism\u2019s] damaging habits.\u201d However, their statement of solidarity assures readers they are \u201capproaching a new academic year, to the thoughtful scrutiny and revision of our own entrenched practices, priorities, and assumptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar to the Sweetland Center, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Writing Center says in its mission statement they \u201cadvocate for writers from historically marginalized or oppressed groups and for writing that counters traditional accounts of \u2018standard\u2019 academic English by extending conceptions of audience, purpose, and meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNL\u2019s Department of English lists their top core values. The first two on the list are \u201cpursuing social justice\u201d and \u201caffirming diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the Department of English at UNL issued a message saying they commit \u201cto use our own resources to further reflect on systemic inequities that exist in our own processes \u2026 we actively invite critique of racism and white supremacy embedded \u2026 in our curricular, co-curricular, and professional practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

This message was followed by a list of ways the department is committed to changing within their department. Chief among these was the initiation of \u201clistening sessions\u201d during which black faculty, staff, and students would be invited to speak while \u201cthe rest of us listen and take notes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The books \u201cHow to Be an Antiracist\u201d by Ibram Kendi and \u201cWhite Fragility\u201d by Robin DiAngelo were listed as reading that the UNL English Department asked their members to read and discuss in depth with the vague timeline that this process would be repeated \u201cuntil racism in this country ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the English Department at UNL, the English Department chair at Rutgers University is making an initiative to increase exposure to the #BLM movement within their school. In an email published by The College Fix, Rutgers English Department chair called to deemphasize traditional grammar \u201cin solidarity with Black Lives Matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences boasts a writing center that is \u201cone of the most multicultural and linguistically-diverse universities in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their DEI Statement, the Rutger\u2019s Center acknowledges \u201cthat Rutgers University was founded by slaveholding families, and its very existence depended on the sale and labor of Black slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

They claim they are committed to \u201cconfronting our past and undoing the systemic racism that continues to shape our academic landscape. We support the ongoing work for racial justice in which so many of our students, faculty, and staff are engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

At St. Olaf College, two professors are calling on their faculty peers and campus writing tutors to prioritize what they call \u201clabor-based grading,\u201d which puts a de-emphasis on calling out and correcting traditional writing errors.<\/p>\n

And earlier this year, Central Connecticut State University\u2019s Center for Public Policy and Social Research announced that its \u201cReflect & Empower: What Black Lives Matter Means to Me\u201d writing and multimedia contest would not judge submissions on \u201ctraditional literary or grammatical standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes on the heels of an effort called \u201cBlack linguistic justice,\u201d in which professors in 2020 began to demand an end to standard English as the norm in the name of antiracism.<\/p>\n

Sweetland Center for Writing, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Writing Center, University of Michigan English Language and Literature Department, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of English chair did not respond to requests for comment from The College Fix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TPTB don’t want a literate, intelligent people. They want an indoctrinated one that will do as they’re told. The word that comes to mind is ‘serfs‘. Comment O’ The Day: Sarah Hoyt- Up to the first World War, books that were considered high literature and won awards were the ones that had allusions to Greek … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment-o-the-day","category-education-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65973,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65967\/revisions\/65973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}