University of Washington Declares English Grammar As Racist

[Pinkie-Dawn]

The Writing Center at the University of Washington is telling students that expecting Americans to use proper grammar perpetuates racism.

A press release put out by the University of Washington's Writing Center argues that "there is no inherent 'standard' of English," and that pressure to conform to proper American grammar standards perpetuate systems of racism.

"Linguistic and writing research has shown clearly for many decades that there is no inherent 'standard' of English," claims the writing center's statement. "Language is constantly changing. These two facts make it very difficult to justify placing people in hierarchies or restricting opportunities and privileges because of the way people communicate in particular versions of English."

The university's Writing Center Director, Dr. Asoa Inoue, suggests that racism has produced certain unfair standards in education.

"It is a founding assumption that, if believed, one must act differently than we, the institution and its agents, have up to this point," Inoue claimed. While overt racism is usually easily identified, more elusive are microaggressions, forms of degradation which manifest on a subconscious and casual level. As the statement reads "Racism is pervasive. It is in the systems, structures, rules, languages, expectations, and guidelines that make up our classes, school, and society."

The university's Vice Chancellor, Jill Purdy, claimed that the Writing Center's new statement is a great example of how academia can fight back against racism. "Language is the bridge between ideas and action," she claimed. "So how we use words has a lot of influence on what we think and do."

Source: https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017...ashington-declares-correct-grammar-is-racist/

I'm not very knowledgeable on how reliable BreitBart is as a news source, but this news does raise one question. While it's encouraged to speak more than one language as a necessity for whatever career you're taking that requires being bilingual and granted not every foreigner has perfect English grammar, should we also apply it to grammar for other languages besides English in other countries? I always dread of getting in trouble with law if I speak Spanish poorly whenever I visit Baja California, Mexico.

 

[User19sq]

Whatwhatwhat?! XDDDDD

I feel that if one country expects a professional to speak their language perfectly, then the feeling should be mutual. I fail to see just how this is racist. While true that those of other ethnicities may speak different dialects from the base language, it doesn't mean that they can't be proper when the time calls for it. Ask any Tex-Mex speaker to participate in an interview, and they will simply go full-on English, because, well... it's a professional setting. It's what you do in such a setting.

Also, BreitBart? Really? XDDDDDDDDDDDD

 

[Esper]

Breitbart is not reputable. At all.

From what I can gather the university is saying that insisting on a single standard of English grammar means that you're inadvertently saying other forms of grammar, particularly those used by minority groups, are wrong. Linguistically speaking no grammar is wrong or more correct than another. Insisting that a person's way of speaking (particularly when they are following all the grammatical conventions of their community) is wrong would be discriminatory if an institution that is meant to treat all people equally did that.

 

[Sektor]

The writing center works from several important beliefs that are crucial to helping writers write and succeed in a racist society. The racist conditions of our society are not simply a matter of bias or prejudice that some people hold. In fact, most racism, for instance, is not accomplished through intent. Racism is the normal condition of things. Racism is pervasive. It is in the systems, structures, rules, languages, expectations, and guidelines that make up our classes, school, and society. For example, linguistic and writing research has shown clearly for many decades that there is no inherent "standard" of English. Language is constantly changing. These two facts make it very difficult to justify placing people in hierarchies or restricting opportunities and privileges because of the way people communicate in particular versions of English.

Source from the horse's mouth: https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/university-writing-program/writing-center

Please direct your attention to the sentence in bold. This sentence "The racist conditions of our society are not simply a matter of bias or prejudice that some people hold" implies that society, as a whole, is not made up of people. This is my interpretation. Laws are drafted by people, words are crafted by people and language evolves with people. If a tree falls down in a post-apocalyptic world where there is no people is it still racist? Can a non-living, non-sentient creation (because that's what our society is) be racist? Does this statement mean that 'society' and not the people as a whole decides that, say, child molestation is not okay? Are people taken out of this equation entirely and it's up for this 'society' to decide? So it wouldn't even matter if some people thought that harming a child is a heinous crime? So evidently people don't factor into society. Gotcha.

People don't shape anything in society as the UW views it, or more accurately, the society of UW, which has nothing to do with people at all, according to the UW. Because as they [the people] say, it doesn't matter what some people think.

So what's the issue with the English language? If someone can explain to me what they mean by this, then it might hold some validity. Until then, it's being filed in the bin between the garbage and the trash, as it should be. Someone is trying to get a good grade on their thesis. That is all.

 

[Guest123_x1]

Things like this is why I am so sick of the West Coast and the fact that people think California and Washington State politics should be followed by the rest of the US, if not the world. With this happening as it is, I fear that there may be a movement to eliminate English as a language from the United States and replace it with either Spanish, Arabic, or Chinese.

I am also so sick of everything being "racist" in this country, especially since Trayvon Martin got killed. Any sane person should know something's not right when proper use of grammar is now considered "racist". It's bad enough that I get really annoyed at the improper use of apostrophes (e.g. using "it's" when it should be "its", and vice versa). I might not be college educated like almost everybody else here, but I still have at least a basic grasp of the English language, and it irks me that writings from people that are much better educated that I am (and, therefore, should have a much better grasp of the English language than I do) sometimes have serious spelling and grammar issues.

 

[gimmepie]

Okay, here's the thing. If your source is Breitbart, I can guarantee they've taken some small piece of information and taken it a mile out of context until it fits their right-wing agenda. There's probably some very loose link to the truth in there and they've just "extrapolated" the rest to create a story that says "liberal culture is attacking straight white men".

 

[donavannj]

UW-Tacoma's response to the controversy.

https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/news/article/response-inaccurate-reports-about-uw-tacoma-writing-center

Breitbart (and many other news sources) should never be taken at their word. They engage in the shitty journalistic practice that's long been employed by gossip rags in taking a single line out of context and making a controversy out of a benign statement.

 

[Somewhere_]

Sure, english - like any other language - varies across many regions and cultures. But english classes are for teaching formal english and proper writing and grammar. Accepting any grammar removes standards and will result in decreased writing quality. Its not about racism. Its about standards.

If writing in proper grammar becomes generally regarded as racist, I might as well start writing formal essays in Southern slang.

 

[gimmepie]

Sure, english - like any other language - varies across many regions and cultures. But english classes are for teaching formal english and proper writing and grammar. Accepting any grammar removes standards and will result in decreased writing quality. Its not about racism. Its about standards.

If writing in proper grammar becomes generally regarded as racist, I might as well start writing formal essays in Southern slang.

Studying the development of the English language, its variations and any implied biases in the language is not the same as accepting any and all forms of language when writing on the topic.