[FRIAM] "certain codes of conduct"

[Eric Charles]

Nick, Frank, et al,

I'm not a fan of this line of thinking, but i know how to hum a few bars
----------------------------------------------

Frank said: " I don't see that any of those had to do with unconscious
racism or implicit bias"

Ignoring the content of the reading entirely (because that's a different
discussion): Were you graded for grammar, syntax, good writing, and the
like?

If so, was the syntax and grammar used in your household and your general
community considered acceptable?

Would those who grew up in different households and communities be thereby
disadvantaged? Communities where ending sentences in prepositions was
normal? Or dropping the verb "to be"?

Would your 500 word essay have been acceptable if you were talking about
how "Children in rye fields need catched. Holden wants do that. Hard."?

Why is that acceptable when spoken within the community that student comes
from, but not acceptable when written in college? I'll tell you why! It is
because college is a tool of cultural imperialism. Those English classes
are one of many ways we systematically make things harder for those who are
already disadvantaged and marginalized in society, while giving a leg up to
those already advantaged and centered in society. We shouldn't put up with
that crap any longer. We *should * equally value the contributions from
those other perfectly valid cultures. If the student summarized the book,
they summarized the book.

You need to understand: A college degrees is, first and foremost, a
symbolic accomplishment essential to get ahead in current society. By
making degree-attainment require that people conform to the cultural
trappings of the already dominant group, you are institutionalizing the
preexisting power structure and further mentally brutalizing the
already-oppressed. You are telling them that who they are and where they
come from isn't good enough. It is no different than imperial Britain
looking down upon those who couldn't speak "The King's English", and
effectively barring them from having successful lives in the colonies where
their ancestors had lived for generations. Stop doing it. Examine every
thought you have about how to teach. Be better.

--------------------------------------------- that's how the argument goes
anyway.


<echarles at american.edu>


On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 10:03 PM Frank Wimberly <wimberly3 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm trying to remember my freshman English class.  Every other Friday we
> had to submit a five hundred word essay on the class readings. On alternate
> Fridays we had to write an in-class paragraph or two on those readings.
> The readings included the following:
>
> Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
> Victory by Conrad
> The Republic by Plato
> All the King's Men by Warren
> Brave New World by Huxley
>
> Numerous essays on personal integrity by various authors.
>
> I don't see that any of those had to do with unconscious racism or
> implicit bias unless the personal integrity essays did.  I think I had to
> read The Invisible Man by Ellison but that may have been in a later year in
> a political science or US history class at Berkeley.
>
> All this was 54 years ago.
>
> Frank
>
> ---
> Frank C. Wimberly
> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
> Santa Fe, NM 87505
>
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