PODCAST: The Fault in Standard English Education in America
“Language is essential in all aspects of our lives. We use it every day to communicate with our family members, friends, classmates, coworkers, acquaintances, and strangers. Educational institutions of all types across America, for the most part, teach Standard English to their students. I saw absolutely nothing wrong with this until my professor for my Writing Against Oppression class in college began teaching us about the multitude of English dialects and the oppression of those who didn’t speak Standard English. In order to understand this issue of how our culture in America values Standard English, restricting any other forms to be introduced in the classroom, we must open up this conversation and dig into the history of education, observe evidence of how institutions who have oppressed minorities through education, and speak to sources who can give us a better insight on the problem at hand.”
Clips from: Jamila Lyiscott’s TED Talk Why English Class is Silencing Students of Color
Interview with: Shelley Shin, NYC Public School College Counselor
Works Cited:
American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Sa [aka Gertrude Simmons Bonnin] (1876-1938). Washington: Hayworth Publishing House, 1921.
“Kill the Indian, and Save the Man”: Capt. Richard H. Pratt on the Education of Native Americans, 1892.
Christina's WSC 110 Blog 
I love that you start this with a brief introduction to the subject before actually introducing yourself. The speech classes are great, relevant anecdotal way into how this issue persists currently. The clips you cut in here are very powerfully positioned and clearly led into. The interview with Kelly Shin(?) serves as an excellent contrast to the fiery rhetoric of the first clip. I’m interested in the last statement that the “circulation of ideas is never a bad thing.” Maybe you could loop this around to constitutionally protected free speech and different ways of suppressing it. Very nice job.
LikeLike