Daniela Aracena
Engl 210
Prof. Andrew Heerah
February 28th, 2023

If you were to forget all language today, the only way you’d be able to communicate is through emotion. In this sense we’re all similar. We want to communicate and be understood. I believe that’s what all languages are meant for. Unfortunately, overtime we lost the understanding of differences in language. Instead we idolize standard dialects, ultimately labeling any and everyone who speaks differently. More specifically, the use of Standard English, *especially in classrooms*, may paint a picture that is changing everyday. What this means is, society is fluid and normal is subjective in such a big world. It is extremely unfair to label a language as the standard, the “norm”, the “articulate”, and deem any other dialect as uneducated. The best way to start erasing this harmful notion is by emphasizing the use and acceptance of other dialects in the classroom in order to recognize the many different ways that others communicate without labels.
When the education system tries to protect the use of standard English, it’s important to step back and question; what is there to protect? The racism that is the backbone of the dialect in itself? For centuries the standard version of English was so special, it determined your credibility, value, and intelligence. At some point, people were deprived of learning the language, a way to avoid them gaining any “knowledge”. For context, when white Europeans first landed on America, they were surprised to meet people of a different race with different languages and customers than theirs. This difference was so shocking, they nearly wiped out their civilization. You see, white Europeans had no respect for different cultures, instead these differences made Native Americans look inferior to them. They were labeled as savages, and ultimately marked for death. After settling down white Europeans quickly began expanding their land and finances, so they (very violently) imported hundreds of slaves from Africa, all with different languages and dialects. All were deprived from learning English, and all were forced to learn to communicate in new/different ways. This gave birth to many new English dialects. Education became more available to the public overtime and standard English was always taught as the correct way to speak. James Baldwin, American writer and activist, anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled. A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience, and all that gives him sustenance, and enter a limbo in which he will no longer be black, and in which he knows that he can never become white”. Whether educators may recognize this or not, standard English is meant to teach kids that their way is speaking is incorrect. However, for many children their dialect is who they are. Standard English stems from racism and forcing this on children can disregard their experiences. Baldwin also states that, “The brutal truth is that the bulk of white people in American never had any interest in educating black people, except as this could serve white purposes. It is not the black child’s language that is in question, it is not his language that is in his article “If Black English Isn’t A Language, The Tell Me What Is” implies how racism outlines language in the U.S. and teaching standard English English schools is harmful to black children. Baldwin supports his implication by explaining how, “A child cannot be taught by despised: It is his experience”. What Baldwin means is simply this: teaching standard English and enforcing that as the only proper dialect puts a lot of black people at a disadvantage and invalidates their experiences, the need for a different dialect in the first place, and the ultimately making their life harder as they’ll always have to strive to meet social constructs that are not them in order to succeed. It’s important to start from the root; the education system. It’s important to teach and encourage the use of different dialects. And it’s vital to stop measuring intelligence through language.
Every individual is a being with free will so who are we to determine what is write or wrong with language? Like I’ve stated before, it has one common goal after all. Attempting to teach this form of English may be dangerous and hard for many. This is because if you acknowledge there’s an issue, you’ll have to admit how prominent racism is till this day. Seeing as how However, to notice the issue and not address it allows the stigma that any other form of English Jordan establishes an informal tone to emphasize how black English is still English to other scholars and professors who are on the receiving end of racism or teaching it in class. Attempting oppression is the backbone of this country, it’s no surprise that it still lingers in our everyday life. language every day. She also wishes to reassure her students that their way of speaking is okay. to correct the issue is more effort than most can say they’ve put in. Doing this is important because it stops the cycle of racism that occurs in schools and, eventually, out of school. When kids are reprimanded for their way of speaking and are taught otherwise, it creates the impression that they are being too “ghetto”, too “improper”, and overall wrong. And once this idea is instilled in young minds, they’ll go through life being treated differently whenever they speak their version of English.