Lowering The Bar In The Name Of Equity At MSU Denver

By Ari Armstrong | Commentary, Complete Colorado

Standard American English does not exist, says Metropolitan State University’s writing center, but also it “is a social construct that privileges white communities and maintains social and racial hierarchies.” Yet the very MSU document damning standard English and calling for its rejection is written in—you guessed it—standard English. (MSU’s ‘linguistic white supremacy’ webpage has been taken down, but here are screenshots from the document).

You might think that a writing center’s goal should be to help students write clearly and intelligibly. No, no, no. Obviously you’re a racist if you think that. The goal of MSU’s writing center is to “be actively anti-racist,” to fight white supremacy, to challenge inequalities, and to “work to dismantle” oppressive systems.

Now, you might think that the best way to fight actual racism would be to train students to write eloquently against it. Again, you would be totally wrong. The way to fight racism, according to MSU, is to obliterate standards in writing and to refuse to teach students, and especially black and Hispanic students, how to write.

Maybe you think I’m being overly harsh here. That can’t really be MSU’s message, can it? MSU explicitly rejects the view that there can be “a ‘correct’ and ‘standard’ way to write and speak in American English.” MSU writes, “We fully support students in using their English (whatever that may be) in communicating their thoughts and ideas.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COMPLETE COLORADO

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