I’ll be the first to admit it; I used to be a so-called “Grammar Nazi.”

If my friends used any amount of improper grammar, I immediately jumped on them, correcting every mistake. Hearing incorrect phrases (it’s “based on,” not “based off of,” if you didn’t know), seeing misplaced commas or being subjected to a sentence that ended in a preposition would all send shivers down my spine.

It wasn’t until this year that I learned that my “Grammar Nazi” ways were perpetuating racist, sexist and classist ideals — and that was when my correcting of simple grammar mistakes came to an abrupt end.

Every language uses grammar — it is how language is structured and occurs inherently in the creation of every language. When I refer to grammar in the rest of this article, I am referring to the codified set of rules we are taught in school and expected to use in a professional setting.

English grammar was given an established set of rules in the 1600s but these written rules could only be read by people of certain classes, races and genders — and here, the divide begins. People who could not read, and therefore could not learn the correct rules of grammar, were believed to be unintelligent by those who could master those rules.

While this happened hundreds of years ago, we see this even in our own world today. Someone who is completely qualified in every regard for a job, but who uses a dialect aside from standard English (the English we are taught in schools), is looked down upon and passed over for certain jobs because “they just can’t communicate clearly.” Or a student’s answer to a question that exhibited incredible critical thinking is not valued because “they need to use proper grammar.” However, I argue these judgments are unfounded and only perpetuate ideologies that are harmful to many diverse people groups.

According to The Washington Times, the University of Washington, Tacoma agrees with me. According to the Writing Center at this university, “Expecting proper grammar from others perpetuates racism and ‘unjust language structures.’” The university has taken further steps by committing to a way of teaching that devalues the “correctness” of grammar and instead privileges the content and ideas asserted in papers.

There is a catch-22, though. As of this moment, we still live in a world that, at large, respects only those who can demonstrate knowledge of the rules of the grammar of standard English. To not use those rules would result in judgment.

However, this is not the way the world has to be. We, as college students, are told that “we are the future.” Critically think about the way institutions such as the teaching of grammar (or the teaching of square-dancing— look it up) perpetuate harmful ideologies.