Bad language usage in schools is rampant

By Felicia Nimue Ackerman

Are you concerned about bad language at school? A New York Times article last fall exposed some bad language at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, a liberal New York City private school.

Barry Sirmon, a "popular but controversial" history teacher, directed what turned out to be a very controversial joke at two black students on the first day of class. By Sirmon's admission, the gist of the joke was "I hope I'll be able to tell you two apart." Sirmon later said that he was "making jokes to try and make people comfortable." It was foolish of him not to realize that this particular joke might have the opposite effect.

What would have been a wise administrative response to this foolishness?

Here is an obvious possibility. The head of the school could have cautioned Sirmon against making classroom jokes that reasonable people might see as racist. He could have said that future jokes of this kind might put Sirmon's job at risk.

The article does not report that the school's new head, Damian Fernandez, gave any such warning. Instead, Fernandez promptly fired Sirmon. In a letter to the faculty, students and parents, Fernandez wrote, "It saddens me that we have to confront such a challenging experience so early in our journey," and that "everyone should be treated with respect, dignity and compassion." He added in an interview: "It's my commitment to help establish an environment where students and faculty flourish and an environment that is nurturing to the development of our students."

This is the sort of bad language that is permeating our schools with a dense fog of euphemisms, bromides and verbosity. How could this fog be dispersed?

We could start by asking Fernandez questions that deal with ethics as well as language. Did firing Sirmon count as treating him with "respect, dignity and compassion"? Did it "help establish an environment where students and faculty flourish"?

Not according to student Emily Kling, who helped design a petition for Sirmon's reinstatement. She said, "A lot of the teachers are worried that his firing will chill their speech. It doesn't make for a better learning environment at Fieldston." Over half the students at the upper school, where Sirmon taught, signed the petition.

We could go on to ask Fernandez additional questions. Why did it sadden him that his school provided a "challenging experience"? Aren't schools supposed to provide challenging experiences? Why did he say "challenging experience" when he meant "serious problem"? Why the verbiage about nurturing and flourishing?

Perhaps Fernandez was taking linguistic cues from Felix Adler (1851-1933), who founded the New York Society for Ethical Culture and served as rector for the school. He wrote, "The ideal of the school ... is to develop persons who will be competent to change their environment to greater conformity with moral ideals." In putting it this way rather than writing that the school aimed to develop people who could make the world a better place, Adler was as remote as Fernandez from the ideal of using language well.

Bad language was also rampant at the Brooklyn Ethical Culture School, which I attended in the 1950s. It was too progressive to risk stifling our little souls by giving us grades. Instead, our parents received narrative reports every June.

My family liked to discuss these reports over popcorn.

One year, my sister's report included the sentence, "She sometimes carries her joyous behavior over from recess into the dining room." "Have you been making a racket at lunch?" my mother asked her.

My mother, whose next birthday will be her hundredth, is still ferreting out bad language. I hope that parents of today's Ethical Culture students are doing so as well.

Felicia Nimue Ackerman is a professor of philosophy at Brown University. He is also a columnist for the Providence Journal.