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Why Are Diverse Students Being Shamed in the Classroom?

  • Writer: Sabrina Mansoor
    Sabrina Mansoor
  • Jan 16, 2019
  • 4 min read

Updated: Mar 4, 2019

In “Teaching Standard English: Whose Standard?” Linda Christensen tackles an interesting topic regarding how students whose home language is not Standard English, are affected by the value of what is considered proper diction in today’s society. She also discussed how it affected her when she was a student and the tactics she implemented when she became a teacher. She used these tactics to prevent her students from feeling the way she did. Christensen argues that students with different home languages should not feel alienated because they don’t speak Standard English. She emphasizes a need to change the way English is taught to students who speak different languages to ensure that they do not feel devalued by their diversity. She explains that students often struggle with writing because they would rather avoid writing than failing at it.

Interestingly, this source is similar to “Late Nights, Last Rites, and the Rain-Slick Road to Self-Destruction” by Thomas Osborne in many ways. Both of these sources have a student’s angle of vision that gives the reader an insight into the student's minds. Osborne and Christensen each describe their thoughts and experiences with writing as students. Both of them describe hardships that students go through with writing. Although they’re discussing very different topics, their points are similar. In their own way, they express their thoughts on the high expectations people have for students to write and speak Standard English well and how unacceptable it is if they don’t. Osborne said in his article, “I strive for a good grade, and will work as hard as possible to achieve one, but there is a voice in the back of my head that is effectively scoffing at the ridiculousness of some assignments and expectations I have had to complete and live up to.” Similarly, Christensen stated, “But still, when they leave my class or this school, some people will judge them by how their subjects and verbs line up.”

I understand and agree with both of their messages because I am a student born in a place with its own dialect. I asked myself, how can students be belittled and taunted at school for their diversity?

I was born in Antigua, a Caribbean island, where we have our own dialect. Growing up hearing it and getting accustomed to using it, I find it somewhat difficult to remove it from my speech while talking or writing in class. Even in Antigua, we are urged to avoid using dialect because it is not accepted anywhere else as proper diction. However, we were still encouraged to embrace our culture at school through singing and writing assignments given by teachers to compose poems and stories in dialect. I found those assignments to be more exciting and they connected the class in a way other languages couldn’t. It gave us the ability to free ourselves from the expectations and rules of standard writing to create a personalized piece to share.

Not only does Antigua have it’s own dialect. In fact, most Caribbean islands have their own creoles. Spanish and French are the main languages in many islands, so their creoles are described as “broken Spanish” or “broken French” depending on which is the main language spoken. However, there can be multiple creoles spoken by residents of one island. I always wondered, how are there so many languages but Standard English the only acceptable one? Society has led students to believe that their home language is wrong and Standard English is right. How can students be shamed for speaking their cultural language?

Rhetorically, Christensen’s article was written well and organized. Her appeals to ethos, logos and pathos are very effective. Her appeal to pathos is shown through her passion when describing how she felt when her ninth grade teacher asked another student to pronounce the word “lawyer” and then asked her to pronounce it. This caused the class to laugh at her pronunciation and she was humiliated. I sympathized with her and could only imagine my reaction if I was in her place. Christensen wrote, “It took me years to undo what Mrs. Delaney did to me,” a heart-breaking example where her appeal to pathos was expressed. Differently, Her ethos and logos are connected. Her credibility comes from the fact that she has worked as a teacher for fifteen years and has tried many different ways to teach diverse student Standard English. Therefore, her appeals to logos in each supported point is confirmed by her appeals to ethos through her experience as a teacher.

Linda Christensen created an article that I, as well as, many others can relate to. She discusses the very important issue of shaming diverse students in the classroom just for being different. Her passion for the argument and disapproval of the way diverse students are taught can be seen throughout the piece and cannot be ignored.


Works Cited


Christensen, Linda M. “Teaching Standard English: Whose Standard?” The English Journal, vol. 79, no. 2, 1990, pp. 36-40.


Osborne, Thomas. “Late Nights, Last Rites, and the Rain-Slick Road to Self-Destruction.” Stylus: A Journal of First-Year Writing, vol. 2, no. 2, 2011.


 
 
 

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