[FRIAM] "certain codes of conduct"

Tue Jul 28 23:18:36 EDT 2020

There were a couple dozen sections of English taught to the Engineering and
Science freshmen at Carnegie Mellon (then Carnegie Tech).  Each was led by
a professor of some rank.  The essays were graded by TA's, who were
graduate students in English.  I suspect that grammar and punctuation were
marked if incorrect but I doubt that that had much effect on the grade
given to the paper.  I do remember my rather senior English professor said
as he was handing back one set of papers, "Despite our telling them that
they should grade your papers based on the strength and coherence of your
argument, they may give you a grade based on whether they agree with you or
not because they still think they know something.  But rest assured that
the final papers at the end of the semester will be graded by faculty and
won't be subject to such biases as much."

Upon reflection I don't think there were any African Americans in my
classes but there were a few Latinx students and a number of Asians. When I
was on the faculty there 20 or so years later there were many African
Americans (> say 5%) and among the graduate students large numbers of
Asians, Middle Easterners, etc.  I never taught undergraduates.  I don't
think that data contradicts anything you said EricC.

Frank

On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 8:45 PM Eric Charles <eric.phillip.charles at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>>
>> 505 670-9918
>> Santa Fe, NM
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-- 
Frank Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 670-9918
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