Professor Penalizes Student: '"Mankind" Does Not Mean "All People” To All People'

I highly doubt that.

 

You mean humynkind right? Haven't you taken womyn studies 101yet?

 

I prefer "humankind" to "mankind."

I understand what this professor was attempting to teach...and I think it a reasonable and valuable lesson.

 

I think its moronic and anti English to pretend your personal beliefs should dictate what words are accepted and what are not.

The ignorance and arrogance of it all is staggering.

 

They do it right here where you are writing...here in this forum.

There are people who might thing considering that kind of thing "moronic"...is moronic.

 

Well, that is your right - but this is your language. Languages develop naturally, through various influences... So it is not very smart to try mandatory forcing people into using one words over others, and for various reasons. First - this is a, pratically, the censorship in it's pure form. Second - such attempts are doomed to fail, due to trying to go against languages development - the world around forms languages, not backwards. Every language has it's nuances, and yes - it does affects the way we think, but that does not means we are incapable of thinking beyond the language.

If in my language - Russian - for assasination, murder and kill - exists a one, same word - 'убийство' - that does not means we have no differences between them.
Other example - we have grammatic genders in structure of our language, masculine, feminie and neutral. That does not makes horses, stars, birches, roads and plates a females, or tables, elephants, oaks, floors, goblets and knives males. This is just how language developed - and not just on it's own, but under influences of other languages, such as Greek, for example.

To present my point in more clear manner: I believe, that development of language is a very complicated process, that is hardly can be artificially influenced. I saw examples of such attempts during my own lifetime, when several patriotic organisations - with support of many teachers of Russian language, for example - systematically tried to eradicate english words slipping in the language - mainly words 'ok', 'party', 'whatever'... Not the most elegant, but widely used, and easy to catch on by youth. That were at early years of millenia, I must point, and result... You can guess - was a total failure. Just as it was with, pardon me, French words, or German. We may have had a whole campagin aganst germanisms in our culture in certain moment of history - during WW1 people tried to get rid not only from words, but even from traditions somehow influenced by Germany... Such as new year's fir, aka 'Christmas tree'. We still celebrate New Year with decorated firs, and I still call a piece of bread with, say, a piece of cheese on it - with german word butterbrot.

...sorry for getting out of point again. Basically: attempt to artificially influence language is futile, and no one should be punished or shamed for using not 'neutral' words of some sort. After all, 'mankind' and 'humankind' are synonims. Not because 'man' and 'human' are direct synonims, but because when we say 'mankind' - we think of all humans. Not just males.

 

You sure respond a lot for someone who doesn't care. lol

Sure you wouldn't.

I use the hand you dealt me.

Next time just dont respond if you can't stomach being challenged.

 

Educating people is important yes and I'm glad to do it.

Might thing? If you are going to pretend to be smarter than others at least proofread your work.

Exactly how is it moronic to follow the actual dictionary? This should be good.

 

This forum is not a university professor teaching English. For God's sake get with the subject.

Their opinion means nothing. The word of the dictionary is what we go by not uneducated feelings.

 

That should be something to see when you start.

Oops, I made a mistake there. I do that...make mistakes. My apologies.

Anyway...I do not pretend I am smarter than others. In fact, I acknowledge that I am not the sharpest tool in this shed. But I give it my best and hope that I do not lower the intellectual standard of the forum.

Yeah, it will be...because I did not say it is moronic to follow the dictionary. In fact, unlike others, I had enough class not to say anything was moronic. I merely said that there are people who might...

Reading with comprehension is important, Guava. Right?

 

Liberal professors are pushing the envelope of what is actually acceptable. Most should not be teaching at all.

 

I love it where this professor used Orwellian "logic' to justify her call for gender neutral language, and I paraphrase, If it wasn't a problem we wouldn't say it was one. Well! Can't argue with a self justified call to end a problem that isn't a problem at all (or can you?).

A group of insular academic elitists and their views of what matters doesn't necessarily mean jack squat in the larger real world where everyone else lives and goes on as usual. And what you imagine (i.e. concoct in your own brain), that the American right would go ballistic about this, and then declaring your own view of what you yourself foresaw, without justification, is similarly asinine and absurd.
And it's not unlike a professor who declares a problem because she herself perceives a problem.

I happen to think humanity is not lessened by the word "mankind" but it is imperiled by cultural Marxists in academia that believe they can control a society by controlling our language. You don't agree? Tough!

 

She's a professor...and made certain requirements with regard to language. One of my advanced Spanish instructors made it a requirement that no English be spoken during class. We survived.

Poor American conservatives. They get all worked up over what they suppose are liberals getting all worked up over nothing.

Cool it, guys. (See...I can use a gender neutral word that looks like it isn't.)

 

The professor makes an excellent point. We have to be very very careful not to, in a fit of privilege, mindlessly offend others. For example, caring Feminists worry 'p***y hats' marginalize men disguised as women. And what about folks that think p***y hats make them look fat?

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog...ize_men_disguised_as_women.html#ixzz4d25Mfkd3

 

Whether you "survive" or not is really not the issue. How disingenuous though to pretend it is. There is nothing unusual or sinister
in insisting that Spanish is spoken in Spanish class (my daughter does the same).
One can hardly say the same for banning the word "mankind".

It actually isn't. Try consulting a dictionary.
And personally I don't care what this professor does or thinks...I just assume most of her mental output will be garbage.
But I do know that attempts to hijack the English language, no matter how subtle or indirect, are subversive because her view of our language carries a false message that is ultimately destructive.

 

More liberal insanity of the hypocritical variety. What's the difference between MANkind and huMANkind? On a grander scale, how would this professor fit in if she was doing this in Espanol where just about everything is described in male or female terms?

This woman is trying to re-engineer American culture and you'll be penalized if you don't go along with the plan. It makes one wonder how this woman would write about the last women's march or their rights? Does she approve of substituting the non gender neutral phrase of women's health in place of abortion? Gender politics for libs is nothing new, but it will certainly run into a brick wall when they try to educate those pesky Muslims for which gender decides if a person has any rights or not.

 

Its clear that she is not forcing her students to think in a particular way. She is setting expectations for essays written in her class. "You are welcome to make a statement about your politics, or conscience, or beliefs by using gender-specific language in your papers, and in many cases gender-specific language is called for, when you can discern with certainty the gender of the characters and author you’re discussing. However, I’ll still have to subtract a point or two for any kind of language that refers to all people as “mankind” or readers as “him/he” for the reasons I’ve outlined carefully above.

Now students must have some right enshrined to use 'mankind' in essays to avoid a fascist leftist plot to destroy Western civilization. I guess some folks think they are so special and unique that they are entitled to ignore expectations they don't like without consequence. Its that conservative 'special snowflake' mentality that says anyone setting clear expectations they don't like has to be doing something wrong. . If a student does not like a specific Professor's rules, they can find another Professor or another university. Its the glorious marketplace at work. You don't like the options open up your own university and hire your own professors. What victims, babies and panty waists the right has become! They just cannot handle rules like they used to.

 

You might have a point is the word mankind was gender specific, but it's not. This professor needs to man up and grow a pair.

 

Miss Jeffers should listen to her professor who seems to be a militant feminist. You will get a failing grade as an English major, if you are not familiar with feminist jargon. The word ‘mankind’ is clearly sexist, going back to the era when only men could vote and own properties.

 

No its the student and you pathetic victim creators that need to grow a pair. Its the professors class to teach and her expectations and rules that need to be met. No one has to agree or defend her position. The student applied to this school and took this class. Now this student can to choose to comply with the class rules or not. You Steve, can start your own college and make different decisions when you hire your professors, but stop selling this victimization crap. It undermines your own ideology. You guys sound like toddlers who dropped your candy bars in the dirt.

 

As I've said elsewhere in this thread, while I don't agree with the professor, I have little empathy for the student. Part of getting a degree is dealing with professors and peers one doesn't agree with. I had some doozies myself. It's just 4 months.

I got a D on my American Lit midterm paper because of damn Jim Carter joke. Turns out the professor worked on the 80 campaign. Ouch. What could I do? Live and learn

 

People that are bothered by this obviously have a mental disorder and can't cope with basic every day decisions.

You have to be one crazy feminist to want man removed from our vernacular.

 

You need to reread her comments. She feels the word 'man' has very appropriate uses, but not to express a broad all gender concept of our species. a LOT of people agree with her and this has been an issue since the early 1970's. Her coping skills are not at issue. She is the professor grading papers for a respectable wage and benefit package at a University . the student is having trouble coping with the class expectation because of a los a few points on paper's grade .

 

Well Frank, I hope I get you in this years Secret Santa because I've got the perfect gift in mind.

A freakin DICTIONARY.

I swear America is destined to become a 3rd world nation within 100 years.

Its basically inevitable at this point.

The rest of the non-Leftist world is teaching its students mathematics, technology, science, medicine.

But are American students learning this?

Oh no.

American students are learning how not to trigger a ****ing penta-gender tranny as walk the halls between the 'How To Kill White Cops 101' laboratories and the Allahu Akbar Memorial prayer hall.

I hope you're old and have no kids because at least then you wouldn't have the pain of knowing that the world you're leaving for the next generation is an abysmal shithole.

 

Conservatives are the pathetic victim creators? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA