ENGL 110-64

Classmates,

In today’s modern world the language that people are using when they are speaking is quickly evolving and some people might argue that as speech is evolving so should the way we write. However, there are some people who believe that even though the way we speak is evolving we should still continue to have a set of rules that determine how we write academic and professional papers and other forms of writing. For years growing up and going to school students are taught to have proper grammar and punctuation when writing things like a paper or a formal email, but like most things in today’s world the idea of having to follow these rules is being challenged by the younger and upcoming generations.   By incorporating this new style of writing, teachers are now faced with the challenge of deciding how they are going to grade each paper equally when not everyone is following the same criteria. Sometimes it is important to have a set of rules that students should follow even if it is more lenient; that way everyone’s writing is at least in the same ballpark for grading. Having a set of rules can also allow for more people to understand what they are reading. If each person is writing based on the way they talk, it could become difficult for others who do not speak the same way to understand.

         In the essay “What should colleges teach” the author Stanley Fish states that students should not be expected to follow the rule of not combining independent clauses with a comma if they have no idea what a comma is. He says, “It would be like being given a definition of a drop kick in the absence of any understanding of the game in which it could be deployed” (Fish 3). This is an excellent example of how sometimes proper grammar can do more harm than good. However, even though this is a true point, I agree that the way we write academic writing should be modernized to some extent. It is still important to have a good set of rules in place because if each person was able to write the way they wanted some people could take that to the extreme and writing could become difficult to understand to anyone reading the essay, except the person who wrote it.

         While things like including commas in between independent clauses might not be a rule that is completely necessary, Fish also includes in his article that it is important to have some sort of rubric that teaches students the ways that they should write and the things they should avoid. He also states that it is important for schools to teach these rules from a young age so they are like second nature to students as they get older. In his article he writes that “high schools and middle schools are not teaching writing skills in an effective way, if they are teaching them at all. The exception seems to be Catholic schools”(Fish 1). From my own experience I have found this to be true. I grew up going to a non catholic school and have noticed that as I have gotten older I have struggled to understand some of the basic grammar and punctuation rules. Leading to me having to figure them out on my own while I am writing. However my mom teaches 7th grade at a catholic school and from seeing what she is teaching the students they are learning these rules from a younger age, meaning that they will have a better understanding of these rules then I do. Even though the way we write may be evolving it is still important for students to be taught how to write according to the proper grammar rules from a young age because if more and more schools move away from that then when it comes time for those students to move into higher level education and the professional world.

         In Vershawn Young’s article critiquing Fish’s article he states “Lord, lord, lord! Where do I begin, cuz this man sho tryin to take the nation back to a time when we were less tolerant of linguistic and racial differences. Yeah, I said racial difference” (young 2). In this quote Young is trying to make a point that people should be able to write in a way that is native to them based on their racial backgrounds and while I believe that people should be able to demonstrate their backgrounds in their writing, I think sometimes this can be difficult for people who do not come from that same background to understand.[PS3]  Instead using rules that fit with one group of peoples background, the updated set of rules could take into account the way that people from different backgrounds write and formulate a set of rules based off of that.  This does not mean that all of the rules that make up what a formal paper should consist of should come from one background. Instead, this list of rules should be inclusive to different forms or writing but just making everything standardized.  When writing his article I do not believe that Fish had the intent of trying to exclude a racial group, what I think he was trying to do was saying that students should all be taught a certain set of rules on how to write no matter what the rules are.[PS4]  By saying this it seems like he just wants to create a way of writing that can allow for equal grading and for all children to be given the proper tools to be able to be successful when they reach a time in their lives where they will be graded on their ability to write academic papers.

In the article Contesting Standardized English the author  Missy Watson explains “All dialects are linguistically equal and capable of meeting communicative needs” (Watson). Which I believe to be correct and this is also the reason as to why the new set of rules that should be put into place should take into account the way that different backgrounds express themselves in writing.  This is something that is definitely doable because it will allow for people from all backgrounds to feel like their writing that they do for formal paper has at least some reflection of who they are as a person.   Another example of this would be in the article Code-Switching and Language Ideologies which is written by Michelle D. Devereaux and Rebecca Wheeler. In this article the authors explain how high school English teachers should be teaching students how to read and understand pieces of writing that use different dialects and what would be considered the standardized rules of writing. For this they made an example of Zora Neal Hurstens book Their eyes were watching God. Devereaux and Wheeler state, “Texts such as Their eyes were watching God challenges students to see (and read) the English language in new ways” (Devereaux and Wheeler 93). I actually read this book in my high school English class and from what I remember this book does a good job of incorporating language from different cultures but at the same time it still keeps certain grammar rules that help readers understand what the author is trying to get across. This book is a prime example of how writing can use language from different cultures but still take into consideration the standardized rules that are in place. 

         Overall, I think that while society needs to work on modernizing the rules that they set when it comes to academic writing, I think that it is still important to have those rules because without them then there could be unfair advantages or disadvantages when it comes to grading these pieces of writing. Also having a standardized way of writing can allow for all readers no matter the background to be able to clearly understand what the writer is trying to say.

Work Cited 

Fish , Stanley. What Should Colleges Teach? , New York Times , 2009. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. 

Young , Vershwan. “Should Writers Use They Own English? .” Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies , 2010. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. 

WATSON, MISSY. “Contesting Standardized English.” Academe, vol. 104, no. 3, 2018, pp. 37–40, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26528058. Accessed 5 Apr. 2022.

Devereaux, Michelle D., and Rebecca Wheeler. “Code-Switching and Language Ideologies: Exploring Identity, Power, and Society in Dialectically Diverse Literature.” The English Journal, vol. 102, no. 2, 2012, pp. 93–100, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23365404. Accessed 5 Apr. 2022.