SAN DIEGO – The National Council of Teachers of English recently gave House Speaker Newt Gingrich its “Doublespeak Award,” with Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole the runner-up.

 

But at its annual convention here over the weekend, it emerged that the NCTE, the world’s largest subject-matter education association, has language problems of its own.

 

Founded in 1911 in Urbana, Ill., the NCTE is “dedicated to improving the teaching of English,” but many of its 90,000 members object to the word “English” as non-inclusive.

 

Some delegates said the group’s name does not represent all professional facets of its membership. Others said such criticism reflects a politically correct, multicultural agenda that places diversity above standards.

 

Incoming NCTE President Beverly Ann Chin said it is important that teachers honor “other people’s cultural heritages.”

 

A statement of the NCTE’s Task Force on Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English charges that minorities face a “culturally impoverished” curriculum. Various workshops at the convention dealt with race and gender, multicultural literature in the classroom, “teachers as cultural mediators in a diverse society” and how “young girls respond to feminist folktales.”

 

One session criticized Proposition 187, a measure barring illegal immigrants from receiving some government services, as “xenophobia legislated.” California voters overwhelmingly passed the initiative last year.

 

“If we are to offer diversity, there can be a conversation about language arts, but not about English,” said delegate Debra Goodman, adding that the word “English” excludes bilingual teachers.

 

Other NCTE delegates suggested adding “language arts” or “communications arts” to the group’s name. Some also voiced objections to the word “national.”

 

“It smacks of nationalism,” said delegate James Davis, adding that the term betrays the organization’s international membership.

 

An educator who asked not to be named complained that NCTE leaders object to the word “teaching,” which they say should be replaced with “facilitate.” The educator also complained that while spelling had declined, teachers had coined words such as “oracy” for oral proficiency and “mediacy” for media skills.

 

“We are producing a generation that doesn’t know how to use standard English,” the educator said. “And these are professionals. It really is scary.”

 

Sandra Stotsky, a research associate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and editor of Research in the Teaching of English, told The Washington Times that NCTE’s professional journals already accept input from different language disciplines.

 

The drive for a name change, she said, is spearheaded by a younger elite that is obsessed with the diversity issue.

 

“They want to break the hold of English in the classroom, deconstruct the language,” said Ms. Stotsky, who noted that teachers in Massachusetts were pushing bilingual education for all students starting at kindergarten.

 

NCTE Executive Director Miles Myers attended the name-change discussion but did not participate. For most delegates, the proposed name change came as a surprise, and while some urged a vote on the matter, others thought it a waste of time.

 

“It’s so much silliness,” said high school teacher Alan Ruten. “We are trying to be so inclusive we don’t stand for much any more.”

 

Critics also charge that the name change and diversity issues are cover-ups for educational failure.

 

In 1992, the Education Department gave NCTE a $2 million grant to develop the Standards Project for English Language Arts. But in 1994, the department declined to renew the grant.

 

“They weren’t happy with the document,” said NCTE staffer Maria Dreez. “They said we involved too many people.”

 

Donald Stephan, who chairs the NCTE’s conference on English leadership, said the department “wanted us to spell out the skills” and judged the NCTE document as too general.

 

The NCTE is developing new standards to be released in March.

 



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