tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post6748171929944206685..comments2023-06-15T09:13:45.467-04:00Comments on Liberty's Torch: Hit Bottom And Keep Digging Dept.Francis W. Porrettohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-366805630359667992018-12-27T06:34:37.227-05:002018-12-27T06:34:37.227-05:00I have been concerned about this for some time. My...I have been concerned about this for some time. My experience as a teacher was colored by my experience as the child of a hillbilly.<br /><br />My Dad spoke the dialect known as West Virginia his whole life. He managed decently in Standard English, but reverted to his more familiar dialect when with friends. However, he was not considered for many promotions, due to his non-Standard dialect.<br /><br />It's not a matter of intelligence. Kids learn what they are surrounded by.<br /><br />My mother worked hard to keep, as she put it, the "West Virginia" out of her children's speech. None of us speak other than the Standard English, with a Midwestern accent. It was a great help in moving into the middle class.<br /><br />Teachers need to have the freedom to acknowledge the dialect, not disrespecting the people who speak it, but also to specifically teach Standard English in school.<br /><br />Most people don't realize it, but American Blacks in the lowest classes seldom encounter Standard English. They live surrounded by those who speak the same dialect, watch TV populated by characters who use it likewise, and listen to music and other media with the same speech.<br /><br />No wonder, then, that they arrive in school as virtual ESL students. Who no one will teach as though they need to learn to understand the Standard Form. Speaking non-Standard English keeps kids from moving out of the neighborhood.<br /><br />Which, for the Elite, is probably the point.Linda Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15024201252345608291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-21674644656577029852018-12-24T20:01:07.222-05:002018-12-24T20:01:07.222-05:00I no longer believe it to be just stupidity. It...I no longer believe it to be just stupidity. It's actual malice, evil intent, to create the kind of division that ends up in a civil war, or a Balkanization of the country. <br /><br />Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06742207103128964574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-38972790804909881552018-12-24T11:49:27.406-05:002018-12-24T11:49:27.406-05:00Francis, before things get all too busy, wishing y...Francis, before things get all too busy, wishing you and your readers a Merry Christmas.Drake's Placehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14134437337625340108noreply@blogger.com