Alert the MLA: Trump drops accuracy from English language requirement
I’ve been teaching language and communication for over 40 years.
I started as a teacher of deaf children and went on to teach at community colleges, an Ivy League school, a prestigious Medical School and now at one of the world’s best city universities.
And although I do look back from my “seasoned” professor vantage point wondering what little legacy will I be leaving, I have never questioned that, if nothing else, I have contaminated my students with the love of the power of language.
Using its form and structures for accuracy, truth and, yes sometime for poetic beauty. That’s what I have taught. That’s what I was taught. A reverence and respect for words. Used well they will not fail you.
But today the leader of the free world, in a tweet – one of the least contemplative forms of communication we use these days – has declared that accuracy of the spoken word is no longer a requirement for his staff.
We can’t assume Mr. Trump really understands the profound import of his words – what he tweeted – about speech and accuracy. In fact there’s really no evidence that he respects the english language much at all. To him, it certainly isn’t very useful for communicating facts – in his world there are facts and there are fact – there’s news and there’s fake news. So when he says that fluent speakers of the language – his staff – can’t be counted upon to be accurate, does he realize he give license for them to stand there and simply make things up.