The other day, Dana Goldstein’s article “Why Kids Can’t Write” (accompanied by an ironically distracting animated gif) appeared in the New York Times. She describes the work of Judith C. Hochman, founder of The Writing Revolution, which, according to its website, “brings proven strategies to underserved schools that enable students to improve their writing skills, become better readers, speak more coherently, and elevate their thinking in all content areas”–through extensive

Grammar is “racist,” proclaims the writing center at the University of Washington, Tacoma. In fact, everything’s racist. Language structure is “unjust.” “We promise to emphasize the importance of rhetorical situations over grammatical ‘correctness’ in the production of texts,” announces a poster. Students won’t be taught to communicate in standard English at the writing center, since there is no such thing. “Language is constantly changing.” For all the “social justice” talk,