March 21

When the school board of district 5, in Marquette Michigan announced that they would be broadening the Social Studies curriculum at the high school level to include a unit on African American Vernacular English, public opinion was divided. In a compelling letter to the school board, 5th generation Michiganian Liam Larsson stated his argument against their decision in simple terms:

"My objection has nothing to do with with race. I have no issue with our African American brothers and sisters, and have had black friends, myself. My objection to the new direction the school board has taken is that it's just one of many recent steps towards* the complete bastardization of the English language. As a retired English teacher, the preservation of the English language - of both the words encompassed within it, and the grammatical rules which govern it -is something I take very seriously. Language is not a fashion or fad. Teaching an "alternative," "urban" form of English is nothing more than pandering to those who seek to introduce low, common slang into the lexicon. This sort of thing might sit well with flat-landers** and other mitten-dwellers***, but we Yoopers**** have an opportunity to draw a line in the sand and declare that there is only one true English language, with no room for slang or deviation of any kind - regardless of a speaker's ethnicity!" 

*In a deviation from standard American English, residents of Michigan's Upper Peninsula tend to use the word "towards" instead of "toward."

**A playful, affectionate colloquialism referring to Michigan residents who live in the less rugged Lower Peninsula is "flat-landers." This terms is Michigan-specific, and not to be confused with Vermont's use of the word "flatlander" (no hyphen) to refer, disparagingly,  to out-of-state visitors.

***On the map, Michigan's Lower Peninsula vaguely resembles a mitten. Those who live in the Lower Peninsula are often referred to as "mitten-dwellers." 

****Derived from the abbreviation U.P., which stands for Upper Peninsula, "Yooper" is a colloquial term which refers to anyone from this region of Michigan.