No Kinda Sense
By Lisa Delpit
I enjoyed reading this article, and it made me really think about how my children feel on a day to day basis in my classroom. As I have stated on some comments, there is a high ESL population at my school so I work with a very diverse group. We have high numbers of Hmong and Hispanic children, but not many African Americans. The kids always talk to each other in their native tongue, but try to speak English as best they can in class discussions. Being kindergarteners, some don’t know enough English to talk at all and even though they talk to their peers, they don’t say much to me. I suppose I might be much the same way if I had to move to another county where I did not know the language. I think it is just a part of our human nature to want to fit it, to want to be around others who are like us. Being different from those around you, whether it is skin color, accent, social status, or other factors that set you apart, makes you feel a little nervous and possibly unwelcome. My own daughter is white, middle class, has 2 college educated parents, and goes to school where I work. She comes home daily telling me stories about how this girl or that girl said mean things to her that day, and she thinks she gets picked on because her mom works at the school. I know part of that is just being a pre-teen, and having a surge of hormones gushing through her, but kids can be cruel at just the slightest little difference. I can imagine how Maya might have felt being a black girl in a predominantly white school. And 5th grade is a tough age; it’s just when kids start to notice how other kids look. They are concerned about little details all of a sudden, like whether their hair looks right and if their shoes match or not. And suddenly, they actually care whether or not their teeth have been brushed. Kids, like adults, want to be around people who accept them for what and who they are.
While I agree with the author 100 percent on the importance that we be accepting of the unique differences our kids bring to our classrooms, I do think that we must also keep in mind our goal as educators; that being to help our kids become equipped to survive and succeed in life. Job markets are tough, and employers want the best person for the job. Language skills are very important in many different fields. As the example in the text revealed, just being intelligent and the best at what you do may not be enough. You have to be able to communicate your knowledge to others. Even though the lady was brilliant, her communication skills or rather the inability to communicate in proper English cost her the job. That doesn’t really seem fair, but it is the reality of the day and age in which we live. It almost seems that one must approach a job as if he were an actor on stage; at times you must put on a show and pretend to be someone you are not. Then when the day is done, you can go home to your family and become your normal self once again. I think to an extent, perhaps we all do that a little bit anyway. For example, I am very relaxed in my conversation with my husband or my mother; they are my family and I do not feel the need to impress them with eloquent language. But when I speak with my pastor or my boss, I might try to dress up my speech a little, and try to speak a little more proper. In some ways I code switch depending on the audience that is hearing me.
We all learn to speak by listening to our family speak, so it stands to reason that our language patterns will replicate those of our parents. If they talk in slang or have an accent, chances are the children will pick up those habits. I think language habits are mostly formed in the younger years of life, and that adults are not as easily influenced as children. I feel this way because I see children in my school who have been born and raised in this country, but whose parents grew up elsewhere. The parents still have strong accents, but the children talk very much like white American children do. They have very little accent, and I can assume this is due to the influence of their friends at school. My daughter has 2 close friends who are both Hmong. These girls speak English the same way my child does, with hardly any accent at all. Their parents, however, have strong accents and speak choppy English. I’ve been in both their homes, and they speak in their native tongue there so the influence has to be from their friends at school.
I strongly agree with Delpit that teaching children to speak proper English is of utmost importance, but we are not going to be able to cram it in them against their will. Children have to see a relevant reason for acquiring this skill, or else they are not going to put forth the effort required to learn it. I thought her ideas about the lessons on hair were very interesting. I wonder how many teachers would be willing to put that much effort into their lesson planning to try to make it more interesting for their students. Of course they are going to be more interested in learning if the topic is something they feel passionate about; that is true for a student of any age. Put me in a class about rebuilding car motors and I probably won’t be very attentive. Not all students are going to be interested in the same things, but it wouldn’t be hard to do a little survey and find some topics they were interested in.
One of the most striking statements to me was the one about how if we criticize the language children speak, we are insulting their family and namely their mother. This makes a lot of sense, as most of us learn to speak from our mothers. To say there is something wrong with the way we talk is to say there is something wrong with our mother. The way we talk is a part of our very beings, and if others are critical of the way we talk then we interpret that as them being critical of us as a person. I think it is extremely important for us as teachers to be accepting of the unique characteristics of all our students, but at the same time keep in mind the importance of teaching correct grammar to them. It is a necessary skill that will help them be successful in life.
Lorie Hedrick