Acceptance and the Language of Power
Unfortunately, many people are not open to differences. In an idyllic world, teaching acceptance for everyone, regardless of appearance, culture, language or grammar would work and there would be no need to teach minority children how to speak the language of power or even have a language of power. But this is not an either/or situation. Both acceptance and the language of power need to be taught. The use of many different languages and grammars could hinder communication and understanding between people. As a result, a standard language is beneficial to a society. People can then communicate with those from other backgrounds and be able to understand and work together. The essential key to this is that ALL children must be taught the standard language and that’s where teaching minority children the “language of power” is necessary. But a standard language is not enough. Acceptance is also crucial because it helps people to not judge a person based on “errors” or differences but instead see the positive qualities of other individuals. When schools teach both acceptance and the language of power, children of all backgrounds will have a better ability to survive and thrive in the world.
posted by Anonymous @ 6:48 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I think you're right on the money.
Before reading the first comment, I was going to say, "right on!" but now I guess I'll add something more ;)
Your reasons for why both the "language of power" and acceptance is necessary are well stated and awesome. Well done.
Everyone having the ability to speak the same language is certainly a good thing for communication, but the question is, how do we reason what language everyone should learn? I think that choice is one that might be too important to ever decide.
Just a sidenote on people speaking the same language, I think that a great many errors of communication occur when two parties think that the words they are using mean the same thing to them as it does to the other party. (Probably many debates between men and women can be resolved to such an assumption.)
Language is a powerful tool. Unfortunately, language is a projection of yourself into the outside world, and as such, we are judged by our use of language. In speech we are judged on enunciation and pronunciation while in writing we are judged on structure and spelling. In both cases we are judged by our vocabulary as well. Until we stop judging people based upon their use of language, we need to allow everyone equal access to the language of power.
I really liked what Drew said. Albert's comment about debatrs between men and women is very true.I just really like what everyone said I guess. Pretty much they follow my own thoughts, but with a tiny tweek.
I definitely can agree with this. The same goes for Drew's comment. It's a complicated issue that will have no easy (if any) solution. I personally can't think of a good one that comes without most of these major loopholes.
I'd say that you have expressed yourself well. And that proves a point. Judging by your use of language has occurred even from your own entry saying that we shouldn't judge others by their mistakes. It does happen. I don't know...but if someone can't express themselves well, it doesn't necessarily mean they're stupid, but it does show something about them, just like your eloquence has shown something about you. I don't think we can ever stop judging people by how they speak or write.
I totally agree with this blog. My only question is how on earth do we get the rest of the world on board, and who plans to fund those changes?
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