How Good is Your P.C.?

1. How Good is Your P.C.? An analysis of college students’ sensitivity to “Politically Correct” Terms

2. It is argued that institutes of higher education are centers susceptible to politically correct movements including that of politically correct speech. • “Political correctness (PC) is often associated with attempts to place limits or boundaries on expressions of racist, sexist, or homophobic attitudes and feelings. PC is most often associated with such efforts on college and university campuses.” Michael Shelton (1995) • “The media has recently taken notice of a trend in education that has actually been around for some time. This trend has been obvious to anyone well-acquainted with the goings-on in our citadels of higher learning…the term politically correct speech, covers most of the issues involved.” Don Closson (1992) • If institutes of higher education are indeed so affected by the PC movement and the implied necessity of “correct” speech, it is assumed that students would display the effects in their vocabularies. Side One

3. It is argued that PC is more confined to the political realm than the educational. • “There is no hard, quantitative data to probe the extent or impact of a PC “movement.” Also, the sheer quantity of faculty engaged in higher education…suggests that political viewpoints are far more divers than a PC norm. An objective examination of the status of PC on American campuses casts much doubt on the positions advanced by critics—it seems unlikely that there is much, if any, organized effort to program students with PC ideas.” Shelton (1995) • If it is the case that PC on campuses is not in fact an issue of significant impact than it is expected that students would not be inclined to incorporate politically correct speech into their vocabularies. Side Two

4. Using terms from top P.C terms lists* a short vocabulary quiz was constructed in which descriptions of P.C tagged words were given. Students were asked to provide the term they would most often use in everyday speech for the definition • Each description was assigned a Traditional term and a P.C. term answer • The data was analyzed as a percentage of how many times a P.C term was used instead of the Traditional *Global Language Monitor Methodology

5. 1)What do you call the person that delivers your mail? Traditional (T): Postman, mailman PC: Letter carrier • 2) What do you call the person who gives you a ticket for speeding? T: Policeman, Policewoman, cop PC: Law enforcement officer, officer • 3) What do you call somebody who does not walk but rather uses a wheelchair, or who uses a prosthetic limb or other aid for physical movement? T: Handicapped, disabled PC: Differently -abled • 4) What do you call the person who brings you drinks and snacks on an airplane? T: Stewardess/steward PC: Flight attendant • 5) What do you call someone who does physically see things? T: Blind PC: Visually Challenged • 6)What do you call a person of African descent? T: Black, Negro PC: African American • 7) What do you call a person of tribal American descent? • T: Indian PC: Native American • 8) What do you call someone who does not physically hear things? • T: Deaf PC: Hearing impaired • 9) What do you call somebody who does not physically speak? • T: Mute/dumb PC: Verbally challenged • 10) What do you call somebody who performs acts of large scale violence, such as setting of bombs, or mass shootings? • T: Terrorist PC: Misguided criminal, insurgent • 11) What do call a person who puts out fires? T: Fireman PC: Firefighter

6. Politically Correct Results

7. Determine if there is a significant statistical percentage of overall P.C usage in student’s vocabularies • For example, out of 11 words, P.C. usage over 50% was only found twice Further Analysis

8. So far it looks as though Side Two-which argues that students aren’t significantly affected by P.C. movements in their speech, is more accurate • However, further research and data collection and analysis may vary the present results-for example, administering the vocabulary quiz to non-students may provide a better comparison for statistical analysis Conclusion Thus Far…