Language Arts  July 08, 1991|By Mark Donovan.  CAROL STREAM — I
teach language arts. This is the new name school districts have
given to reading and English. I am forever explaining this
whenever I tell people what I do. Language arts makes people
assume I teach French or Spanish. I am not sure what was wrong
with reading and English; someone decided these terms were
obsolete.  We do not go to the library anymore. We go to one of
the following: the learning center, the resource center or the
learning-resource center.  This is not a natural evolution of
the language, but a deliberate manipulation. Words today are
cheap, meant to be changed, eliminated or replaced by convoluted
conglomerations.  Now I am told by Stephen Chapman that speech
no longer means speech in his June 27 column, ``Banning nude
dancing, banning bad thoughts.`` It means expression. More
specifically, it means nude dancing. Mr. Chapman states the 1st
Amendment protects nude dancing.  When words lose their specific
meanings, communication bec