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Reblogged:Why Standard English Matters

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Drawing a linguistic parallel between Switzerland and the United States, American expatriate Suzanne Lucas arguesthat educating American children in standard English is as important as educating Swiss children in High German:

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[W]hile I agree with [Michael] Hobbs that AAVE [aka"Ebonics" -- ed] needs to be respected and especially that educators need to understand that it is a legitimate language, I also agree with [Amy] Alkon that not requiring all children in the United States to learn standard English is dooming them to an insulated life without the possibility of greater success. The assumption needs to be that all children are capable of learning a standard language and that learning one does not mean anything negative about the language spoken at home. [bold added]
Lucas and Alkon are correct that failing to teach children standard English puts them at a disadvantage in communicating with others, with all the consequences that implies. But in America, that may not be the full extent of the harm. A book I read eons ago, Twice as Less, by Eleanor Wilson Orr, argued that certain grammatical and usage aspects of Ebonics, which she calls Black English Vernacular (BEV), actually impede understanding of quantitative subjects, such as science and math. It the case of American schools, it could well be that teaching standard English is even more important than teaching High German is in Switzerland.

-- CAV

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