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Discussion » Questions » Current Events and News » Is this racist? For a college to expect less on non-white students as a way to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

Is this racist? For a college to expect less on non-white students as a way to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

Incorporating “critical grammar” into our pedagogy.  This approach challenges the familiar dogma that writing instruction should limit emphasis on grammar/sentence-level issues so as to not put students from multilingual, non-standard "academic" English backgrounds at a disadvantage. Instead, it encourages students to develop a critical awareness of the variety of choices available to them w/ regard to micro-level issues in order to empower them and equip them to push against biases based on "written" accents.

https://english.rutgers.edu/news-events/department/5875-department-actions-in-solidarity-with-black-lives-matter.html

Posted - July 24, 2020

Responses


  • 52905

     

    No one should be compelled to associate in any way with the Black Lives Matter organization until or unless it shows its effectiveness in stopping black-on-black MURDERS with the same fervor that it conducts all of its other activities.  If black lives truly matter to those who are members or supporters of the organization, then all actions and all people who take black lives need to be addressed. 
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      July 24, 2020 3:17 PM MDT
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  • 32529
    I agree 100%  

    But do you consider having a lower standard for non-white students a form of racism? 
      July 24, 2020 5:14 PM MDT
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  • 52905

      Sure sounds like separate but unequal to me. 

      Not precisely racism, but it certainly is differential and/or preferential treatment based on race and ethnicity.   Listen, for about a century, a preeminent liberal tool is to convince a group of people that they are victims, and as such, need to be protected by uneven laws and regulations that are not applied to other parts of the population. If it is true that language and grammar are not sufficiently taught to minority students during their years of schooling prior to higher education, then lowering the standards in colleges and universities DOES NOT prepare those students to be competitive with a wider body of their peers leading to graduation, and it certainly stifles those students’ competitiveness in job markets.
      If employers have to choose between two college graduates wherein one writes well and one does not, the likelihood is that the one who has a teacher’s note saying Johnny was excused from having to write correctly because he was oppressed due to his skin color will lose more often than win.
      I am not saying that writing skills are the only gauge or the primary gauge of who is better suited for a job in general. What I am saying, however, is that writing skills also tell a lot about one’s reading skills, which in turn tell a lot about overall comprehension skills, which in turn tell a lot about one’s critical thinking skills, which in turn tell a lot about one‘s ability to adapt to new information and adapt to seeking new ideas and innovation. Combining all of these skills into a job applicant’s probability of being hired is the exact algorithm that potential employers use to grant or deny a job offer.  Black Lives Matter and/or coddling tactics of schools can’t claim on one hand to care about minority students while at the same time holding a leash around their necks and pulling them back.

      Who wants to be the medical patient of the doctor who is far less qualified than most other doctors in the same field or same specialty, just as one example?

    ~

     

      July 24, 2020 5:49 PM MDT
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