An English teacher in California is being called out on social media after one of her videos on TikTok went viral. In this video, she argued that teaching grammar and proper writing techniques in school is racist and supports White supremacy.

Marta Shaffer, an English teacher at Oroville High School, has decided that grammar rules are the product of White supremacy and will not be teaching her students how to write following the widely-accepted grammatical standards that are crucial for students to be familiar with. The only thing she will be accomplishing is hurting their chances of getting into a good college since they won’t know how to properly write essays or clearly communicate via the written word.

Shaffer kicks off her video, titled How English classrooms are white supremacist, by saying that “public education is an institution that upholds lots of problematic systems in our society like White supremacy and misogyny and colonization, etc.”

“In my role as an educator I try to undermine that B.S. in my classroom as much as I possibly can,” said Shaffer, adding that white supremacy “runs deep” in her high school English curriculum.

According to the teacher, concepts like citing sources, having a thesis, and using transition words in an essay are just made-up, nonsensical rules that perpetuate white supremacy. “They were created by Westerners in power,” Shaffer said.

She also said, “We study linguistics and the rules that we actually use to communicate instead of made-up rules that White supremacy created for when we write papers and stuff, which is what scholars call the ‘language of power.'”

Never mind the fact that these grammar rules are in place to help people communicate clearly and effectively, while giving credit to their sources.

The delusional teacher, who wants to fight white supremacy by reinforcing incorrect grammar among her students, then proposes that she start off her school year “with a unit honoring how we talk rather than teaching students how to write properly.”

This is like suggesting that students shouldn’t be taught proper French grammar because it’s “made up.”

She is essentially suggesting that students of color are not able to grasp these writing and grammar techniques and therefore it is unfair to force them to even try.

Her students will be in for a rude awakening when they can’t get a job because they don’t speak or write in proper English.

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