English 105 is the only class at UNC that every single student has to take during their first year.
It was created to provide a basic introduction to the writing styles students should expect to use during their time at the University and in their future careers. Yet the class still does not teach students gender-sensitive language.
UNC should add gender-sensitive language to every 105 section in order to better equip writers for their future in writing.
From UNC Hospitals to the United Nations, more organizations are requiring workers to use gender-sensitive language when writing any documents or in conversation with others.
Gender-sensitive language is thankfully becoming the standard, not the exception, to modern writing across disciplines. Since the tide is changing, English 105 classes should change as well, and students should be challenged to use correct pronouns, cycle out the use of gendered words like ‘congressman’ and refer to gender as a continuum, rather than categorizing individuals into two rigid gender types.
The University has already implemented a gender-sensitive policy for faculty and expressed the importance of using sensitive language in modern writing on the UNC Writing Center’s website — and should be applauded for doing so.
The Center said on its website that English changes and it is the job of the writer to convey their message in a precise way that readers can understand.
To include this new initiative, the professors who write the curriculum should require students to write one of their papers using only sensitive language.
This move would not be professors forcing students into a mindset (even if it’s an admirable one) — it would be giving students the tools they need to write in a way that is becoming even more necessary for their futures.
