After reading chapter 8 from Purcell-Gates book, the quote that stood out to me
the most was surprisingly said by a teacher. “I knew she was ignorant just as
soon as she opened her mouth!” Throughout the entire reading, I kept thinking
about this quote. I don’t understand how people can be so ignorant to others. I
also can’t get over the fact that a teacher said this! Aren’t teachers meant to
help others? Teachers are there to inform and educate. Not just children, but
everyone! It was obvious that this teacher was being very judgmental and I’m
sure she immediately applied a stereotype to this ladies child. It was very
evident that Donny’s parents had minimal education and were from a lower
socio-economic class. However, this should have driven Donny’s teacher to try
even harder with him and his family. Just because his parents didn’t have a
very well spoken dialect, doesn’t mean Donny wasn’t 100% capable of learning.
Literacy Knowledge
can be defined as the basic concepts young children obtain. These skills occur
in the areas of reading and writing, prior to a child receiving any type of
formal education. One example of literacy knowledge would be a child picking up
a book, flipping through the pages and attempting to tell a story based on the
pictures that they see. Although the child is most likely not telling the story
exactly how it is written, they have enough knowledge of how a story is told to
come up with one on their own. An example of print literacy would be a child
scribbling down stuff on a piece of paper and reading it to an adult. Although
it just looks like scribbles to an educated adult, the child will likely tell
you a full story. Currently, I work in a daycare and see many examples of
literacy knowledge occurring every day.
Stereotypes often
interfere with literacy instruction. If someone appears to be in a lower class,
instructors and educators often immediately assume they have a very low
educational level. As humans, we often make assumptions about what a person is
capable of merely based on their appearance and the way they talk and carry
themselves. We should start making a conscious effort to not apply stereotypes
to anyone and give everyone the same opportunities.
I believe that
teachers and schools contribute vastly to poor literacy instruction in school.
I believe this is especially true for teachers. When a child enters a
classroom, the teacher unfortunately already has a preconception of what she
believes certain students are capable of. This is usually based off of what she
has heard from other teachers, and/or what she knows about the child’s family.
If a teacher sees one of these students struggling, they may not acknowledge
that the student needs help, simply because they feel this is all they are
capable of completing. The student then gets a bad reputation and is passed
from one grade to the next without actually meeting all of the guidelines required
for that grade. This isn’t necessarily noted to the school, because the teacher
has just grown to expect this as “normal” achievement for that particular student.
I personally
believe that language, social class, and the denial of educational opportunity
are all linked together. A person’s language fluency usually depends upon which
social class they are in. A person’s social class, unfortunately, often
determines their upper level educational opportunities. For example, a person
of a lower socio-economic class is much less likely to attend an Ivy League
school. Whereas, a teen that comes from a wealthy, high class family has a much
better chance of not only getting accepted to a more prestigious school, but
they will be more likely to afford this type of education.
There are many
misconceptions about literacy and language. If a person speaks a different
dialect, educators are likely to label them as being dumb, unintelligent, and
incapable of learning. When in actuality, a person’s dialect should never
measure their overall intelligence. Dialect depends on the region you were
raised in, not your intelligence level.
I believe that
teachers and schools hold the key to improving literacy instruction in the
classroom. First and foremost, teachers need to realize that children of lower
class are still capable of learning. Schools need to make an effort to evaluate
their teachers and make sure they are supplying all of their students with appropriate
learning materials and accommodations when necessary.
My personal
opinion is that “Proper English” is what is noted in textbooks. However, not
all students are familiar with this way of speaking. Everyone has their own
dialect and their own way of speaking. Not all students come from families who
speak “Proper English.” It is the teachers responsibility to teach the students
that there is a time and a place when “Proper English” is necessary.
“If a television network proposed a ‘real life’ show
treating poor African-Americans, Latinos, American Indians, Asians or Jews as
curiosities, they, and all Americans of good will, would be justifiably
outraged.” I loved this quote and think it is 100% true! It seems to me that
the idea for this television show is just to make fun of people. Being below
the poverty line, having minimal education, and not being able to find a steady
job are not situations that should be made fun of or taken lightly. These are
three very serious situations that people are facing today. People of higher
class do not understand what it is like to live this way. People do not choose
to be in poverty.
Below is a video of people protesting to stop "The Real Beverly Hillbillies" from becoming a television show.
This is an outstanding post! You provided a good example of literacy knowledge from the daycare where you work! You seem clear that they way a person speaks should not be a marker of intelligence and teachers should NOT assume that students who speak non-standard English are NOT capable of learning. I also thin that many teacher believe that people living in poverty do not value education and do not care as much about their children as people from higher economic status which contribute to less effort being put forth to educate. I'm glad you posted that video of the protest. Too few people speak out against the stereotype of "hillybilly"!
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