I first wrote about this 20 years ago; the issue is still around; and I think the academic left STILL pretends that calling something "prescriptive" is really VERY damning.

 They reach this verdict by a twisted sophistry that mixes up how you treat natives in the jungles of South America with how you treat people-- expert and not so expert – in New York City.

This may be the lamest sophistry ever, but the academic left parades it around like, you know, the Emperor with a New Suit.

 Teachers need to understand this matter. It will continually come up. For some background, here is an article on American Thinker:  

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/11/descriptive_versus_...

 For a more generalized article about this sophistry and others, see "9: Philosophy Weeps"

http://www.improve-education.org/id13.html

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In general, this country is way too creative in the field of sophistry. You can't read a newspaper or hear anything discussed on the Internet without hearing people say something that is just slightly sprung,  like when the Menendez brothers pleaded for mercy on the grounds that they were orphans.