Ever time I hear or read the words "Standard English," the hairs on my arms stand up. It pisses me off sincerely... I don't know if it is because I am an African American woman or I just don't believe there is a "Standard English. "
Christensen touched on how this word makes students feel uncomfortable and it truly does separate us as people of who can speak more "correctly" than another. I know being an African American from a small urban town puts me in a category and I don' t like the fact that standard English makes it seems as though I am not as capable or will not be able to speak or write effectively because I do not speak "Standard English." In a school were my people make up less than 5% I feel as though, I'm always trying to prove myself and stand so that teachers and others will know that I am capable. The Standard English makes me feel that I need to do these things becuase this is a way to judge and discrinate against people.
As Christensen we need to teach language in context or teach the "standard" without humiliation. Students in urban areas need to know that standard English is going to be required of them to make it out in the dominate world, because has set society up to be this way. We need to teach them that their way of talking in not wrong nor incorrect and teach them how to speak and write in these different context like writing professionally or writing a letter to a friend. Standard English, I believe for people that were raised like myself, teaches us that we always have to be careful how we talk and write, because its like we are always being judge. I just hate the words "Standard English!!!!"
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I agree with you. We should be able to teach in a way without humiliating students for the way they speak. I honestly feel that we shouldn't apporoach language or grammar in a right/wrong way approach because in each language variation there are rules and when someone else uses a different variation, they are not breaking the rules of that variation. I feel that we should not take the correct/incorrect approach I think in a classroom we should use a what is appropriate for this situation/what is appropriate for that situation.
That way, you aren't really devaluing your students. You still recongize and appreciate what students learn at home. I'm not sure if what I'm trying to say makes sense or not but I hope it does. :)
'Standard English' makes me cringe too. It's part of the reason I would have difficulty in teaching English. I think a lot of people forget that English is really just a hodge podge of different languages molded together and yet we pretty much suggest that Caucasian people have been doing it 'the right way' in America, so why can't everyone else? The teaching of English as 'standard' is definitely somewhat tied to racial superiority complexes broken down to even further divisions like region (because we hold up the midwest accent as being the closest form to 'actual english') when really that's just a total load.
Alyssa Coffey
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