Teacher bans 32 words from being used in their classroom, sparking heated debate
Should slang be banned?
A teacher banned 32 words form being said in their classroom.
A teacher has sparked a passionate debate on X after a letter they wrote banning 32 words from being spoken in the classroom was made public. The discussion is centered around whether a teacher has the right to control how their students talk in class.
The letter has been seen nearly 44 million times on X.
“The gibberish some of you choose to use is improper English,” the teacher declared. “There are many ways to articulate what you need to say without using slang. Please know that using slang in an academic setting can diminish your capability to become a successful writer. More often than not the way you speak is the way you will write.”
“This is an academic institution, and you will carry yourself as scholars in my classroom,” the teacher added.
According to the letter, if students are caught using any of the 32 banned words in their classroom, they will be assigned to write a short essay explaining why they chose “to use these words in an academic setting.”
Words on the list include bruh, standing on business, on my momma, big motion, gyat, gang gang, on hood and rizz (short for charisma). The teacher also banned the use of the n-word.
Given that much of the slang on the list derives from African American Vernacular English (AAVE), many believed that the word ban was racially motivated. However, the teacher's race has never been disclosed.
Seems anti black to me
— Saint (@__lamar) January 7, 2024
There isn’t a Black child in the public school system who doesn’t know how to code switch. This is targeted.
— RandomWhiteGuy📖 Heretic & Disheveled Misfit (@TheReelRandom) January 10, 2024
The list caused a lively debate on X, and many people joked in the comments that they didn’t think they would last a day in the teacher’s class.
First 5 minutes 😂💯
— 𝓈𝒶𝑔𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉★ (@hearts4zaniyahh) January 7, 2024
Many people supported the teacher and believed slang is inappropriate in an academic setting, especially in an English class. They appreciated the teacher challenging them to change their word choice based on the setting.
1. Accurate and correct.
— Dre Baldwin | #WorkOnYourGame (@DreAllDay) January 7, 2024
2. Sounds like a black teacher trying to help black kids elevate.
Good teacher. Not an easy stand to take. This will benefit the kids' education, lives, and careers.
— Town Square Man ☕️ (@TownSquareMan) January 8, 2024
It appears this is a class full of inspiring writers and it also appears this lecturer is rightfully setting standards to improve their chances of success in the real world.
— Tuoyo (@JustTuoyo) January 7, 2024
Imagine how people have found a way to demonize standards. SMH
I like this. Challenging students to articulate themselves without slang is good. They need to know how to write and speak properly.
— Chi. (@ByEzenwanyi) January 8, 2024
i never thought i would see the day that teaching kids how to be functional adults would be frowned upon pic.twitter.com/Yb7rPAYXzt
— jonxlewis 🎧🏆 (@jonxlewis) January 7, 2024
Being able to talk with and without slang and adapt to whatever room or surroundings you’re in is important.
— Agonaldinho🇩🇲 (@Agonaldinho) January 11, 2024
Just ask yourself this, how would feel if you were in court, with your life in the hands of a judge and jury and your lawyer used all of these words and phrases? 🤣 pic.twitter.com/bKTOjTkRDZ
The list also bothered many people who thought the teacher should be able to distinguish between the student’s speech and the work they do in class. For most people, there is a big difference between how they casually speak with peers and how they write in an academic or professional setting.
Many also thought the teacher was overstepping their bounds by trying to control how the students spoke.
She’s on a power trip & and doesn’t value the language of her students. She is more concerned with compliance than learning about her students, because she does not value her students’ identities.
— Alyssa Rose (@AH_Belonging) January 7, 2024
So you as a teacher want to take away the right of speech to students? Why not let them talk how they talk? Dont you as a teacher know how people talk?
— Mike Hanning (@Mikenaniyoka246) January 8, 2024
You can’t just police their words, slang and lingo and expect them to talk a different way, that isn’t realistic and that’s…
Let me write the essay on how the way I choose to speak isn’t the way I’ll write. This teacher needs to vibe out for real.
— streaming on kick (@dabbunny710) January 8, 2024
I get where they're trying to go with that but I don't agree with cutting out slang. Language is always evolving and there's more than one way to speak English. This just seems like power tripping and respectability politics to me 😐
— Brindille (@twig_lalaland) January 7, 2024
One person had a practical solution the teacher could use instead of banning certain words. Instead, they could teach them to dig deeper into their meaning and find words and phrases that have a similar meaning.
As a middle school teacher, I relate to banning bruh. Instead of this draconian response, the teacher is making the words more popular. Instead, she could assign them as vocabulary words, then challenge the students to find synonyms, especially curse words from Shakespeare.
— RobinRadlauer-Cramer (@robradreads) January 21, 2024
Pritay Washington, an expert on childhood education at the Education Development Center, told Newsweek that she believes the students should be allowed to use slang in the classroom because it has an essential function: it helps them feel like they belong in school.
"So much happens in middle and high school beyond the learning of classroom content. Students are developing cognitively, mentally, socially, emotionally and physically," she told Newsweek. "They are honing their critical thinking skills and learning how to navigate the world around them. The importance of student engagement is critical, and this includes representation. Students' sense of belonging matters."
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An actual beaver dam on the now-thriving Price River
Not just coworkers—family, friends, strangers, kids… 
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Anything hobbit-esque can't be wrong. 
But what if you need pain meds AND mascara?!
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Honestly…where's the lie? 
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Urgent dash to the bathroom! 🚪🏃♂️
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."