Holding black people to a different (and most importantly, lower) standard than white people used to be considered “racist” and “bigoted.” In fact, I’m sure it still is, if it’s coming from a white, male Republican.
But apparently when it’s coming from an undergrad researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it’s cause for celebration.
Erika Gallagher conducted the research the purports to show that minorities have a harder time grasping proper grammar.
She was researching the theory of “code switching” which means that a person will adopt the speech patterns of a group when trying to communicate. She deduced that minorities are particularly marginalized by “code switching” because proper English is harder to learn than say, ebonics.
Gallagher received national recognition for her work, and says she hopes to one day create a non-profit group that would help teachers encourage their students to speak in a way that is most comfortable for them, as opposed to having to learn proper English.
I get it, grammar is hard. You couldn’t force me to diagram another sentence in my life and the semi-colon is the least used key on my keyboard.
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19 comments:
Ahh, the dumbing down of America continues full steam ahead!
What a twit!
I think that the teaching of the English language has to start from day one, todays kids speak the way they do because that's the spoken word among their generation, and they want to fit in. Teaching proper English in pre-school will solve this issue.
We keep bashing education, the future generation will not consider being teachers!
Heck we already are feeling the pain of not enough teachers - let alone anyone with teaching credentials looking for work in less than desirable locations.
Immigrant talk, Russians, et al continues to be way more important right now!
How long can we continue to lather/rinse/repeat???
I use the semi colon all the time. You can't make a smiley face without it!
HAHA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
But we need to make sure they are hired equally - equal standards, equal pay.
The Dumbing down of America - lower the standards, dont raise the bar.
I can't even understand what they are saying now. And if you can't speak proper english I am not hiring you. Bunch of marble mouthed idiots
gnomesayn?
These are 'learned responses' and language.
Does anyone remember the Doctor (Ph.D.)from UMES that was on cable TV for a (short) while reading to children? She was in charge of all the books and reading material at the college. Or, as she says, "the liBARY". Like LIE-BERRY.
Along with her use of "dis" and "dat" for this and that, her English was atrocious. She had a Ph.D. in ENGLISH!
You speak how you hear it at home. Possibly they could begin (resume?) teaching correct usage and stem the tide. In today's society, that would most likely be deemed racist, though.
Note that the U.S. still doesn't have an official language.
Fo sho.
This is the problem with education now, you have already lowered the standards to meet their mentality level.
We need to build up the standards. Everyone is entitled to the same free education of public school!
English IS the hardest language to learn/master, but that's no excuse! Could you imagine what ebonic Mandarin Chinese would sound like? Not that they would stand for it.
A few years ago I taught an IT-related course at WorWic. Even after explaining to my class that I would not tolerate "text-like" words and poor punctuation in any homework assignments; I was shocked at how many kids either ignored my instructions or simply thought that they were "working out of the sandbox" and doing their best work ever. I showed my oldest daughter, who was a freshman in college, some of the answers and she was not shocked stating that this is the way that a lot of kids write nowadays. Ebonics? What a joke!
I say to start holding all children accountable for the proper use of grammar and proper way to say the spoken word. In our case, it is American English. If ebonics were true then fifth and sixth generation Asians would still end their sentences without 's' on them and reversing L's and R's. I don't buy into it one bit.
Just my two cents.
we have become lazy as Americans.
Hey a great job for April Jackson.
Even after 154 years of freedom and citizenship, they still have not assimilated into American culture and language. Go figure. So we are going to give up trying to assimilate them and just let them be sub-standard Americans? That a stark admission of failure for an entire race of Americans.
Just like the "Cockney" British accent is considered "low class", Ebonics is a name for "low class" English in this country.
funny thing is, the people I meet in various countries overseas all speak fairly good english. yet even after having lived in america for generations some still have a hard time with it. says alot about what different societies will accept/expect from their citizens!
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