This piece brought something to my attention that I may not have necessarily thought about before, which Delpit even brings up. This thing that was brought to my attention was the language of the education being that of those who are in power, the white upper and middle class. As a member of the "power" the language that was accepted within schooling was just what I heard within my home and was my native language in a way. I recognize white privilege and the ways in which it has put me at an advantage throughout my life but I had never thought about it in relation to the actual language of academia. For myself I simply just thought that was the way one spoke and wrote within the context of education. I did not realize that it was essentially catered to someone like myself. Reading this piece and the points that Delpit make it evident just how disadvantaged someone who is not a member of the "culture of power" can be within our society if not instructed on the language that our society associates with intelligence and education. That says some really strong stuff about the class and race based discrimination that exists within our culture.
But when looking at the piece in comparison with the piece that was written by Bartholomae I can see how many of his points could be supported by this. It makes sense to me to give everyone very explicit and detailed guidelines to how they should be writing. I was initially against this idea due to my idea that it would put others at a disadvantage but this makes me want to think otherwise. The example of the Native American class in Alaska where they made an emphasis on celebrating the native English that they spoke but the way the teacher knew to succeed within society the students also had to be able speak formal English. It would be great it if did not matter what register or dialect of English that a person spoke when it came to education but they seemed to find a great balance of protecting their culture while instilling the skills that they will need to succeed in academia. Writing that makes me cringe cause that fact is just shitty.
Hi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteYou write, "It makes sense to me to give everyone very explicit and detailed guidelines to how they should be writing. I was initially against this idea due to my idea that it would put others at a disadvantage but this makes me want to think otherwise." Can you say a little more about what you mean when you say that direct instruction "would put others at a disadvantage?"
I too thought about the example Delpit gave regarding the students in Alaska; I think from a very young age we begin to become aware of which language is appropriate for which situations, but it feels unspoken in the classroom, again from such a young age. Of course all our elementary school teachers felt it would be helpful to teach us how to spell and speak ‘correctly’, but were they really expecting us to go out on the playground and relay the same conscious language to each other when there were no authority figures present? Even today I see my peers choosing to forgo ‘proper’ grammar and spelling in social media posts and even verbally, so maybe the idea that we get to pick and choose how much our language use matters and when comes very early on too.
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