I remember being taught the Oxford comma in 3rd grade and I still use it. I also remember the exceptions to the rule. As I grew older, I noticed that many publications didn't use it and wondered if either the rules had changed or it had fallen out of favor. Many years ago our school district's psychologist retired and the newly-hired school psychologist didn't understand punctuation marks (colon and semi-colons).
In a district where there were usually 12-15 gifted students per grade, he found one. The way he was reading the criteria led to him thinking that a student had to meet every one. In other words, if the criteria for other special education students had been written in the same way, those students would have had to have every physical, mental, emotional, and learning disability under the sun to receive special education services. The director of special ed called me in to explain to the guy and the superintendent thanked me when he returned from vacation. Once he was set straight on how to read punctuation marks, he 'found' there were 15 students who qualified. Oh and the one that he did identify was highly gifted. A kid that when I met him as a toddler I knew he was highly gifted.
Take That, AP Style! Court of Law Rules The Oxford Comma Necessary
For anyone who’s ever wondered what all the fuss is about over Oxford commas, the circuit judge’s opinion says it all: “For want of a comma, we have this case.”
https://thewritelife.com/is-the-oxford-comma-necessary/
