The intellectual thuggery that dominates in academia knows no bounds at UCLA. A professor who marked students' papers off for poor grammar is now being accused of racism by Students of Color(sic).
http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/26/prof-corrects-minority-students-capitalization-is-accused-of-racism/
"The act of correcting a black student was “micro-aggression,” according to the members of the student group “Call 2 Action: Graduate Students of Color,” which launched a sit-in during a subsequent meeting of the class."
I should say as an ESL grammar and writing teacher that marking points off for grammar errors is what I do at UCI. My students, however, are foreign students learning English. Be that as it may, when I was teaching a drug id class at Northern Virginia Community College, I did the same thing with the papers of my American students. I thought that was what was expected. After all, are these not college students?
“A hostile campus climate has been the norm for Students of Color in this class throughout the quarter as our epistemological and methodological commitments have been repeatedly questioned by our classmates and our instructor,” wrote the group in a statement to the college. “[The] barrage of questions by white colleagues and the grammar ‘lessons’ by the professor have contributed to a hostile class climate.”
And at the risk of being out of touch, isn't this "people of color" phrase being overused-especially since it is now considered offensive to refer to "colored people", which, when I was growing up, was considered polite in reference to black people? Rather confusing, isn't it?
And why would it be capitalized in the first place?
"Some of the corrections were clarified by sit-in organizer Kenjus Watson. Rust told one student that she should not capitalize the word “indigenous” in her papers. This correction was ideologically-motivated, according to Watson."
Maybe they should just have all the students do their papers by texting.
"Uhhhh.....yeaaaaah."
6 comments:
Indigenous is not a proper noun, although at the beginning of a sentence, it is properly capitalized. Indigenous is a general adjective, not a specific nationality.
These UCLA students are so smart that they do not know about Microsoft "Word" spell/grammer check. Real smart those UCLA students. Of course, we know a Harvard law school grad who taught Constitutional law at the U. of Chicago and he uses the Constitution as a door mat.
Squid
Siarlys,
You have the advantage of not being college educated. It does have certain benefits.
It certainly does. I may be the only bus and package delivery driver writing for reference works from four major publishers.
Squid, I have occasionally run across letters written by staff on behalf of, e.g., the governor of Oregon, said staff having a degree from Harvard, which contained some laughably obvious spelling errors.
Yale students seem to do better, although I wouldn't bet on those with a C average who run for office.
Siarlys,
I have to agree with you regarding the desintigration of "academic rigor" and strong scholarship. Unfortunately, this situation is found across the country.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving Siarlys.
Squid
And dittos from fousesquawk to all of you.
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