RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

Growing up I remember having a language among my fellow social group members we spoke, that only we knew how to do in order to communicate our thoughts and ideas to each other without anyone knowing what we were saying. In today’s society children and adults have their own language too, and it may seem foreign to many people. After reading these articles and listening to Michelle Obama’s speech about the “White People’s Way” of talking I was actually pretty mad. I know I grew up in a household just like many others where we were raised to speak proper and when we chose to bring home “crazy talk” and use it, we were corrected and reminded of the correct way to speak to sound professional and “smart.”
After reading the articles and thinking a few days on what I read, I confided in different people’s thoughts on what I read, and finally decided that we cannot change or judge someone by the way they speak, but we do have to conform to their way of speaking to get across to them. In Mrs. Obama’s case, she is educated and even though she chooses to use fist pumps and “slang” in her daily speech, doesn’t mean she is uneducated, it only shows that she is in the modern wave and she can relate to today’s children. The article The Skin That We Speak, No Kinda Sense the author’s spoke of code switching and I totally agree with that comment. I as a teacher code switch throughout the day as I speak with my students, teachers, and other aged children in the school. Using the “in” slang and wordings catches the attention of students and brings them into conversations with me. I understand and can relate to Maya and the way she felt about herself in the all white school, because some teachers frown down upon me, because I choose to use some “slang” when I’m teaching, especially when I am trying to get a point across. It’s not wrong that I’m using that language; it’s just not what the older teachers like to hear. As I speak the language of the students, I feel as if sometimes the students feel more in tune with me and trust and respect me more. Both articles played on the role of the white way of doing things, and to a point I understand what they are saying, but is the white way the right way always. Sometimes I feel as if people think that the WHITE people owe them something, but do they? In the article, Ovuh Dyuh they talked about playing to the white audience, by looking, dressing and sounding the part, but isn’t that true for everything we do? We dress the part as an adult, teacher, church member, etc,…not because we necessarily think it’s the right thing to do, but we do it because we are expected to do so. I know that I would be content going to work each day in sweats; I’d be more comfortable and able to “play” on the floor with the children without thinking about ruining my Ann Taylor pants, but that’s not what is correct, instead I have to act the “professional way” in order to be respected by other teachers and parents. People go to a Country Club and dress one way and people go to a rodeo and dress another way. The way of dress depends on the occasion and their choice to act one way verses another. This “white way” of doing things bothered me about these articles; because it’s not the “white way” it’s the chosen society’s way instead. No one should be judged by the way they dress, look, or talk, but it is inevitable and it will continue to happen as long as people think for themselves.
I know I do not always speak the way I was raised to speak. I don’t always use correct grammar when talking to friends or texting. I don’t spell out all the words in emails, use correct capitalization or punctuation, but I don’t blame anyone but myself for these actions, because I know when to “act, dress, talk” a certain way to conform to the occasion or clientele make up.
Doing what it takes to get your point across is the only way to truly teach. We as teachers know that we dress up like a big dinosaur to teach our students about dinosaurs, we wear our most prestigious suits when discussing proper table etiquette, we do whatever it takes to get to our students and if it means talking in Ebonics to teach, then we need to do what it takes. We cannot dwell on the past ways as right, because those ways have changed, we as a society has changed, and we must educated the future the best way we can.

Meredith