Rutgers English Department to deemphasize traditional grammar ‘in solidarity with Black Lives Matter’

[Metaphor]

https://www.thecollegefix.com/rutge...rammar-in-solidarity-with-black-lives-matter/

Also pledges to decolonize the writing center

The English Department at Rutgers University recently announced a list of “anti-racist” directives and initiatives for the upcoming fall and spring semesters, including an effort to deemphasize traditional grammar rules.


The initiatives were spelled out by Rebecca Walkowitz, the English Department chair at Rutgers University, and sent to faculty, staff and students in an email, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix.


Walkowitz sent the email on “Juneteenth,” which celebrates the commemoration of emancipation from slavery in the United States.


Titled “Department actions in solidarity with Black Lives Matter,” the email states that the ongoing and future initiatives that the English Department has planned are a “way to contribute to the eradication of systemic inequities facing black, indigenous, and people of color.”


One of the initiatives is described as “incorporating ‘critical grammar’ into our pedagogy.”


It is listed as one of the efforts for Rutgers’ Graduate Writing Program, which “serves graduate students across the Rutgers community. The GWP’s mission is to support graduate students of all disciplines in their current and future writing goals, from coursework papers to scholarly articles and dissertations,” according to its website.


Under a so-called critical grammar 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,” the email states.

I think I need to take a course or two at Rutgers, because I can't understand fuck nothing about what critical grammar is from the words quoted in that email. I went to the original email for the entire paragraph:

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.

What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?

Walkowitz’s comments come amid racial unrest within academia following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer. Walkowitz explained in the email that since 2012, the Rutgers English Department has had a Committee on Bias Awareness and Prevention.



Following the committee’s most recent meeting in mid-June, its members agree it needs to “move from a role emphasizing awareness and prevention towards a role emphasizing ‘culture change.’ Several initiatives came out of that meeting,” she wrote.


A recommendation endorsed by leaders of all instructional units is to require all fall 2020 instructors in English to attend at least one workshop remotely on “how to have an anti-racist classroom,” the email states.


The committee will also be “launching a web page to provide access to events, resources, and affiliated groups,” while also “organizing two teach-ins focused on Black Lives Matter, ‘anti-racism,’ police brutality, and prison reform.”

I remember English classes when I was a lad, and I have to say in retrospect it was shockingly devoid of lectures about prison reform.

With concern to the amount of inclusivity and diversity present within the Writing Center at Rutgers, Walkowitz noted that there is an internship scheduled to launch in Spring 2021 dedicated to the mission of “decolonizing the Writing Center.”


“The Writing Centers have developed two internship initiatives to support the goals of diversity and equity,” the email states. “The Plangere Writing Center currently offers a spring advanced tutoring internship called ‘Tutoring Towards Diversity and Inclusion’ and the Livingston Writing Center is developing an internship to launch in Spring 2021 titled ‘Decolonizing the Writing Center.’”


“Both critically engage the history of ‘English studies’ and how we can both continue teaching/tutoring English composition, even as we work to make the writing centers linguistically diverse and decolonized spaces.”


When asked whether the effort to “decolonize the writing center” and incorporate “critical grammar” is a wise pedagogical decision for Rutgers’ student body and university as a whole, Executive Dean Peter March and Rutgers media spokesperson Dory Devlin did not respond to a request from The College Fix for comment on the matter.
Walkowitz also did not respond to a request for comment.

Look, you can't even start to read in English unless you decolonize (decolonise) the writing center (centre).

Other highlights from the email include:

...Since catering is a substantial part of our discretionary spending, we commit to seeking out and supporting black-owned businesses. Given that there will be few in-person events in AY 20-21, this is likely to be more relevant for future years, but it is a significant and tangible policy.

​

Read the entire email at Rutgers University’s website.

The other day I found out that the sandwich I had for lunch was made by a white person. I couldn't eat it after that.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

This certainly must have been disappointing, as I know you care so much about a college in New Jersey.

 

[Politesse]

What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?

I assume this is a rhetorical question, given how very easy it would be to look this up when you're already on a computer.

Actually, it's amazing that Rutgers didn't think to ask random guys on the internet how to design their program, given that they clearly know nothing about teaching English.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

I give the op post a C-.

 

[Metaphor]

What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?

I assume this is a rhetorical question, given how very easy it would be to look this up when you're already on a computer.

It is not rhetorical. It's a genuine appeal. English is my first language and I cannot understand what that paragraph is trying to say. I understand the words in the sentences but not the meaning of the sentences. It's an absolutely appalling piece of writing.

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.

 

[barbos]

Great, the first order of business is abandoning articles (both definite and indefinite), Russian Lives Matter!

 

[Politesse]

It is not rhetorical. It's a genuine appeal. English is my first language and I cannot understand what that paragraph is trying to say. I understand the words in the sentences but not the meaning of the sentences. It's an absolutely appalling piece of writing.

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.

Beinng fluent in a language is not the same thing as formally studying it, let alone the pedagogical issues connected to it. After all, nearly all of Rutger's student body are similarly fluent monolingual or bilingual speakers of English upon arrival. Nevertheless, a bit of reading on the subject would catch you up fairly quickly. It's not super complicated, but it does take more than a paragraph to explain if you don't have any experience in teaching.

 

[Metaphor]

It is not rhetorical. It's a genuine appeal. English is my first language and I cannot understand what that paragraph is trying to say. I understand the words in the sentences but not the meaning of the sentences. It's an absolutely appalling piece of writing.

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.

Beinng fluent in a language is not the same thing as formally studying it, let alone the pedagogical issues connected to it. After all, nearly all of Rutger's student body are similarly fluent monolingual or bilingual speakers of English upon arrival. Nevertheless, a bit of reading on the subject would catch you up fairly quickly. It's not super complicated, but it does take more than a paragraph to explain if you don't have any experience in teaching.

I already googled "critical grammar" but I did not get anything useful in return. But I'm not interested in "critical grammar" per se. I'm bewildered that somebody could write a paragraph like the "critical grammar" paragraph above, somebody from an English department, and think that what they wrote was comprehensible. My complaint about it is not even directly related to the OP. I can't believe the person who wrote that email is the chair of an English department.

 

[KeepTalking]

I think I need to take a course or two at Rutgers, because I can't understand fuck nothing about what critical grammar is from the words quoted in that email. I went to the original email for the entire paragraph:

You might consider a course somewhere, given your use of a double negative.

 

[ideologyhunter]

In the independent clause "I can't understand fuck nothing", fuck can be classed as an intensifier or interjection, in which case the double negative stands as stated; if 'fuck nothing' is used as a pleonasm, it does not in itself constitute the second negative, as fuck joins with nothing to create an independent premodified noun phrase and should be termed an interjected periphrasis. These and other examples can be found in my book, I'm So Bored with Fuck-All, Can You Tell?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Beinng fluent in a language is not the same thing as formally studying it, let alone the pedagogical issues connected to it. After all, nearly all of Rutger's student body are similarly fluent monolingual or bilingual speakers of English upon arrival. Nevertheless, a bit of reading on the subject would catch you up fairly quickly. It's not super complicated, but it does take more than a paragraph to explain if you don't have any experience in teaching.

I already googled "critical grammar" but I did not get anything useful in return. But I'm not interested in "critical grammar" per se. I'm bewildered that somebody could write a paragraph like the "critical grammar" paragraph above, somebody from an English department, and think that what they wrote was comprehensible.

So you are upset because you don't understand something.

 

[Politesse]

Beinng fluent in a language is not the same thing as formally studying it, let alone the pedagogical issues connected to it. After all, nearly all of Rutger's student body are similarly fluent monolingual or bilingual speakers of English upon arrival. Nevertheless, a bit of reading on the subject would catch you up fairly quickly. It's not super complicated, but it does take more than a paragraph to explain if you don't have any experience in teaching.

I already googled "critical grammar" but I did not get anything useful in return. But I'm not interested in "critical grammar" per se. I'm bewildered that somebody could write a paragraph like the "critical grammar" paragraph above, somebody from an English department, and think that what they wrote was comprehensible. My complaint about it is not even directly related to the OP. I can't believe the person who wrote that email is the chair of an English department.

If you're not interested in critical grammar, understanding the rest of the paragraph is going to present a steep challenge. As it is not relevant to any other topic. Indeed, why you would expect to be able to follow a technical discussion without engaging with the relevant techne is quite confusing to me. Do you pick up physics books and say "I don't care about physics per se, I just don't get what all these gluons and muons are, they sound like pretend words. Explain them to me without getting into this physics nonsense though!"

In any case:

They're talking about trying to remove "gate-keeping" practices from introductory coursework, a common thread in many socially critical pedagogies. The situation this was trying to avoid is early student burnout over what are ultimately less important issues. While refusing to do this by ignoring readability issues entirely, they are trying to come at things from another direction, seeing that there is potential to work past and through to more complex questions of meaning and purpose that will engage students on more equal footing, while still remaining committed an organic presentation of spelling and syntax rules. These being made more palatable, however, by framing them as a matter of choice and appropriate context, rather than in the dumb "rights" and "wrongs" of the classic prescriptivist grammar paradigm. While everyone can see that the latter is a problem, they are trying at a more nuanced approach to solving it than the blunt instruments common to early critical pedagogies of English.

 

[Metaphor]

Beinng fluent in a language is not the same thing as formally studying it, let alone the pedagogical issues connected to it. After all, nearly all of Rutger's student body are similarly fluent monolingual or bilingual speakers of English upon arrival. Nevertheless, a bit of reading on the subject would catch you up fairly quickly. It's not super complicated, but it does take more than a paragraph to explain if you don't have any experience in teaching.

I already googled "critical grammar" but I did not get anything useful in return. But I'm not interested in "critical grammar" per se. I'm bewildered that somebody could write a paragraph like the "critical grammar" paragraph above, somebody from an English department, and think that what they wrote was comprehensible.

So you are upset because you don't understand something.

No. I don't understand the paragraph, but I'm not upset by it. I'm bemused by the Woke nonsense of Rutgers English Department, but.

 

[laughing dog]

Beinng fluent in a language is not the same thing as formally studying it, let alone the pedagogical issues connected to it. After all, nearly all of Rutger's student body are similarly fluent monolingual or bilingual speakers of English upon arrival. Nevertheless, a bit of reading on the subject would catch you up fairly quickly. It's not super complicated, but it does take more than a paragraph to explain if you don't have any experience in teaching.

I already googled "critical grammar" but I did not get anything useful in return. But I'm not interested in "critical grammar" per se. I'm bewildered that somebody could write a paragraph like the "critical grammar" paragraph above, somebody from an English department, and think that what they wrote was comprehensible. My complaint about it is not even directly related to the OP. I can't believe the person who wrote that email is the chair of an English department.

Perhaps the problem is that you were not the audience. It was written by the chair in communication with the faculty, staff and students in the English department in Rutgers not some reactionary Australian pedant. Now, if the intended audience did not understand it, that would be an issue.

 

[Metaphor]

Beinng fluent in a language is not the same thing as formally studying it, let alone the pedagogical issues connected to it. After all, nearly all of Rutger's student body are similarly fluent monolingual or bilingual speakers of English upon arrival. Nevertheless, a bit of reading on the subject would catch you up fairly quickly. It's not super complicated, but it does take more than a paragraph to explain if you don't have any experience in teaching.

I already googled "critical grammar" but I did not get anything useful in return. But I'm not interested in "critical grammar" per se. I'm bewildered that somebody could write a paragraph like the "critical grammar" paragraph above, somebody from an English department, and think that what they wrote was comprehensible. My complaint about it is not even directly related to the OP. I can't believe the person who wrote that email is the chair of an English department.

Perhaps the problem is that you were not the audience. It was written by the chair in communication with the faculty, staff and students in the English department in Rutgers not some reactionary Australian pedant. Now, if the intended audience did not understand it, that would be an issue.

I'm glad you think it was a well constructed, lucid paragraph.

As for whether the intended audience understood it, I've no idea.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Dunning Kruger

 

[Toni]

Perhaps the problem is that you were not the audience. It was written by the chair in communication with the faculty, staff and students in the English department in Rutgers not some reactionary Australian pedant. Now, if the intended audience did not understand it, that would be an issue.

I'm glad you think it was a well constructed, lucid paragraph.

As for whether the intended audience understood it, I've no idea.

That seems to be true so it's a bit puzzling why you chose to start a thread about it.

 

[prideandfall]

So you are upset because you don't understand something.

well if that isn't some kind of shorthand for basically every post metaphor has ever made on this forum...

 

[laughing dog]

Perhaps the problem is that you were not the audience. It was written by the chair in communication with the faculty, staff and students in the English department in Rutgers not some reactionary Australian pedant. Now, if the intended audience did not understand it, that would be an issue.

I'm glad you think it was a well constructed, lucid paragraph.

I did not make such a claim. Are you sure English is your native language?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

So you are upset because you don't understand something.

No. I don't understand the paragraph, but I'm not upset by it. I'm bemused by the Woke nonsense of Rutgers English Department, but.

So you are bemused that you think something you don't understand is "woke", because if you did understand it, it'd totally have to be 'woke'.