Just two days ago I wrote this. Earlier today came this. And now:
After spending four depressing days this month at a meeting of 3,000 writing teachers in Atlanta, I can tell you that their parent group, the Conference on College Composition and Communication, is not really interested in teaching students to write and communicate clearly. The group’s agenda, clear to me after sampling as many of the meeting’s 500 panels as I could, is devoted to disparaging grammar, logic, reason, evidence and fairness as instruments of white oppression. They believe rules of grammar discriminate against “marginalized” groups and restrict self-expression.
I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
Dr. Anonymous prescribes handing each of them a copy of Strunk & Whites (oops) _The Elements of Style_. Of course, the book is full of such solid, simple grammar rules that it would probably make their heads implode.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... would that be a good thing?
I haven't personally met many fellow "English" or "writing" teachers who are that way--but I just haven't met a large enough sampling, I suspect. At least most of the ones I work with are truly interested in the nuts and bolts of writing. They aren't nuts interested in writing propaganda onto a captive audience.
ReplyDelete"...disparaging grammar, logic, reason, evidence and fairness..."(?)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that students who are taught
by following the principles outlined in this article will become doubleplusgood duckspeakers.
A stiff dose of "The Elements of Style" would do them a world of good. Although not certified in Language Arts, as someone who has written ad copy for a long time, I was drafted into tutoring kids in grammar. I was appalled at how little they knew about the parts of speech. They had been taught that writing was a formula to be plugged into a form, not a means of communication. I had those kids for only one hour a week for six months. I am waiting to hear how they did on state tests. I suppose the teachers groups was comprised of the same folks who wanted Ebonics taught as a viable language.
ReplyDelete