<div dir="ltr">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." <div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Frank</div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 8:45 PM Eric Charles <<a href="mailto:eric.phillip.charles@gmail.com">eric.phillip.charles@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Nick, Frank, et al,<div><br></div><div>I'm not a fan of this line of thinking, but i know how to hum a few bars ----------------------------------------------<div><br></div><div>Frank said: "
I don't see that any of those had to do with unconscious racism or implicit bias"</div><div><br></div><div>Ignoring the content of the reading entirely (because that's a different discussion): Were you graded for grammar, syntax, good writing, and the like? </div><div><br></div><div>If so, was the syntax and grammar used in your household and your general community considered acceptable?</div><div><br></div><div>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"? </div><div><br></div><div>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."?</div><div><br></div><div>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 <i>should </i> equally value the contributions from those other perfectly valid cultures. If the student summarized the book, they summarized the book. </div><div><br></div><div>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. </div><div> </div><div>--------------------------------------------- that's how the argument goes anyway. </div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br clear="all"><br><div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="mailto:echarles@american.edu" target="_blank"></a></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 10:03 PM Frank Wimberly <<a href="mailto:wimberly3@gmail.com" target="_blank">wimberly3@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">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:</div><div dir="auto"> </div>Catcher in the Rye by Salinger<div dir="auto">Victory by Conrad</div><div dir="auto">The Republic by Plato</div><div dir="auto">All the King's Men by Warren</div><div dir="auto">Brave New World by Huxley</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Numerous essays on personal integrity by various authors.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">All this was 54 years ago.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Frank</div><div dir="auto"><br><div dir="auto">---<br>Frank C. Wimberly<br>140 Calle Ojo Feliz, <br>Santa Fe, NM 87505<br><br>505 670-9918<br>Santa Fe, NM</div></div></div>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">Frank Wimberly<br>140 Calle Ojo Feliz<br>Santa Fe, NM 87505<br>505 670-9918</div>