Looks like cultural Marxists are continuing to infest the education system. Apparently, Mankind is not gender nuetral. The young lady should have said Humankind.
This is an overview of a piece by Dr. Joseph Farrell (doctorate in patristics). Followed by the original report.....
Now you'll note the latest victim of the "politically correct diction" crazy is, in this instance, a young lady who thinks the whole language agenda is a bit ridiculous:
Cailin Jeffers, an English major at NAU, told Campus Reform that she received an email from one of her professors, Dr. Anne Scott, informing her that she had been docked one point out of a possible 50 on a recent paper for “problems with diction (word choice)” related to her use of the word “mankind” as a synonym for “humanity.”...
Jeffers decided to test the policy on her next paper by including two instances of the word “mankind,” and when the paper came back with the requisite points taken off, she requested a meeting with Scott.
“After our first essay we were given a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ based off of errors my professor found in our essays. Most of them make sense, just things like ‘make sure you’re numbering your pages’ and ‘cite in proper MLA format,’ but she said we had to be sure to use ‘gender-neutral language,’” Jeffers told Campus Reform. “Included with this rule were several examples of what was and wasn’t okay to use. In one of these examples she stated that we could not use the word ‘mankind.’ Instead, we should use ‘humankind.’ I thought this was absurd, and I wasn’t sure if she was serious.”
Well, beyond the fact that Northern Arizona is using the very inadequate MLA (Modern Language Association) directives for proper citation - which in my curmudgeonly opinion is absolutely inadequate as a scholarly method of source citation, if only for the reason that it is a completely artificial set of rules, and did not develop from the tradition of academic orthography that emerged over the centuries of use - you'll note that there is a tactic going on here, one designed to short-circuit the whole idea of "free speech". Ms. Jeffers' professor stated:
The professor of Gender Neutrality and Political Correctness was challenged by her student;
“I would be negligent, as a professor who is running a class about the human condition and the assumptions we make about being ‘human,’ if I did not also raise this issue of gendered language and ask my students to respect the need for gender-neutral language,” Scott explained. “The words we use matter very much, or else teachers would not be making an issue of this at all, and the MLA would not be making recommendations for gender-neutral language at the national level.”
So note first that the professor put on the airs of "objectivity" and waxed fairly frothy about respecting Ms. Jeffers' choices of words. But then she went on to state Ms. Jeffers would still be punished for writing the way she wanted to, cited the MLA commissars as the "authority" for her ukase, and when Ms. Jeffers protested that the word mankind did exclude the female sex - funny thing, this curmudgeon doesn't remember his elementary school or middle school English teachers - women to a... uhm...er... man (this gets so confusing!) - the Professor of Commissarial Conformity lost all objectivity and simply redefined the word according to MLA dictates, and insisted that it did.
“I stated that I agree with everything she said about my paper except my use of ‘mankind.’ She proceeded to tell me that the NAU English department, as well as the Modern Language Association, are pushing for gender-neutral language, and all students must abide by this,” Jeffers recalled. “She told me that ‘mankind’ does not refer to all people, only males. I refuted, stating that it DOES refer to all people, [but] she proceeded to tell me that I was wrong, ‘mankind’ is sexist, and I should make an effort to look beyond my preset positions and ideologies, as is the focus of the class.”
OK, we get it, but I hope the tactic here is perceived. In order to "get around" that pesky little thing called "free speech", the professor couched everything as an academic exercise, nothing more, as an "experiment".
But one wonders then if the professor, or the institution of lower learning in which she roosts (Editor's note, that's my attempt to be politically correct: "tenure" and words like that are so old fashioned and tainted with masculine imagery) would tolerate a class - just for the sake of experiment - in requiring students not to use "gender neutral" language, but rather, the old traditional language most of use still use, you know, words like "he, him, she, her, it" and "mankind" and so on.
The solution to all this? I suspect Ms. Jeffers has pointed the way: simply refuse to go along with it, even at personal cost. That cost is relatively minor in her case. For some, that refusal will mean not attending college - simply defund the activity of the crazies - because it's either refusal now, or refusal later, for these people will not stop until they are either confronted, or acquire the power to confront, and at that stage, the demands will be total: abandon all tradition, or pay a costly price. If that seems extreme, then ask yourself if it is worth the financial cost to send yourself, or your children, to these fraudulent indoctrination centers.
Or, to put it more bluntly: violence to language and free speech today will be violence to people tomorrow.
Anyway, here's the article - A Northern Arizona University student lost credit on an English paper for using the word “mankind" instead of a gender-neutral alternative.
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