Friday, January 18, 2008
Why learn about SLANG?
This past week I was speaking with some of my relatives. We were laughing and having fun and I had broughten up the idea that a California school was thinking of teaching Black English as part of their curriculum. I thought my cousins would think that would be a cool thing to be taught in a school environment. I figured since my cousins speak "that way" already they would like that. However, the response was completely different then what I had imagine. My cousin Rhino had said, "Why would they do that? I struggle with English, writing, and speaking to teachers because I was never taught proper English." The conversation ended shortly and the members of my family were discourage in the Education system. It's awesome to talk about slang but in reality slang has not helped any society. Slang's connotation has served people unfairly. The first impression that others receive when hearing slang from a person; is the lack of education, poor environment, etc. I understand where my cousin is coming from. Rhino had mentioned, "...it's just not fun to be looked at as stupid." My cousin may not be the best in English but is fantastic in Math. It is weird how one thing can past judgment on so many other things.
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3 comments:
I find that interesting that people in the education world are trying to teach students new ways of using the english language. Is america getting that lazy with english? I don't know. Maybe it is just another way to be creative. Maybe not. One thing is for sure, they appear to be shaping their identity and image.
I appreciate you bringing the viewpoint of your cousin who has struggled with standard English--this is a reality whether it's fair or not.
I do wonder, however, how you would counter Dalzell's and Whitman's (cited in Dalzell) that slang is useful, is creative. And while it may certainly make someone look "stupid" or "uneducated" doesn't it seem, as suggested in the article, that slang can be a way of influencing a langing and accessing power (e.g. the adoption of Black slang by mainstream, middle class).
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