Standard English ‘Oppressive’ to Minorities; Teach Ebonics Instead

[Deleted]

U of Wisconsin Researcher: Standard English ‘Oppressive’ to Minorities; Teach Ebonics Instead

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/u-of...onics-instead/

An undergrad researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has entered the public limelight with research indicating that standard English is “oppressive” to minorities, essentially stating that grammatically correct speech is too hard for them to learn.



Erika Gallagher argues that schools must allow for minority students to speak in ebonics, just weeks after the University of Washington-Tacoma endorsed a similar campaign declaring standard grammar racist. The Daily Cardinal reports that Gallagher’s research was chosen for presentation at the Collegiate Conference on Composition and Communication in Portland, Oregon this semester, where her work to erase the stigma against ebonics attained national attention.

Gallagher’s research focuses on a theory called “code switching,” which means that individuals adapt their speech and mannerisms to those around them. She believes that minorities with poor language skills feel marginalized by having to adapt to those who speak proper English. To mind their sensitivities, Gallagher intends to end the stigma of ebonics—also known as African-American Vernacular English—a dialect spoken by some black people in the United States—and encourage its use in schools.

“I want to center the voices of the people who need to be centered,” said Gallagher. “As a Writing Fellow, as a white-passing person, I have a lot of power and privilege that should be shared.”

Gallagher says she based her research on three interviews with student leaders at UW-Madison from minority groups. She asked them how they felt about code switching, and says that the persons she interviewed “overwhelmingly” said they felt oppressed, one of whom called it “the biggest form of cognitive dissonance that exists.”

Yes, you read that correctly: her research is based wholly on interviews with three college students who, like many special snowflakes, would feel oppressed if you looked at them the wrong way. Apparently, the three students are now the primary spokespersons for every minority to ever live in the United States.

As a writing fellow, she says that the focus on teaching students how to use proper English causes minorities to feel excluded, and she wants to change that. “Just because you speak a different way doesn’t mean you’re not smart, but there’s a huge stigma around it,” Gallagher said. “I want to teach [educators] a different rhetoric, teach them to be more accepting.”

Gallagher has expressed her intention to funnel her research into a nonprofit organization that encourages teachers to allow students to speak in any way that makes them feel comfortable—even in broken English.

After all, why should colleges be places of learning when they can serve as nurseries for overgrown infants, instead?

[zenkai]

This actually tried to happen over 20 years ago, a lot of black leaders were against it.

This is no different than teaching white kids hillbilly talk, we should be encouraging students proper English, not tools to help them fail.

[Deleted]

Just ignore her dude.

[Deleted]

Aspect	Example	Standard English meaning
Habitual/continuative aspect	He be working Tuesdays.	He works frequently (or habitually) on Tuesdays.
Intensified continuative (habitual)	He stay working.	He is always working.
Intensified continuative (not habitual)	He steady working.	He keeps on working.
Perfect progressive	He been working.	He has been working.
Irrealis	He finna go to work.	He is about to go to work.

[Sunseeker]

You're really reaching for the bottom of the barrel with this man. Some student researcher did some student research that's pretty dumb and shitty. This isn't uncommon.

[Krigaren]

She's an undergrad researcher who's likely attempting to get accepted into a prestigious school for graduate work, so she's probably making sure her research focus is something "grandiose" and "profound". Her methods, however, are abysmal and misleading. I'm sure I can find three people to interview who would agree with research that white men are the most oppressed minority in the United States. Doesn't make it magically true.

Also:

An undergrad researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has entered the public limelight with research indicating that standard English is “oppressive” to minorities, essentially stating that grammatically correct speech is too hard for them to learn.

How is this not an incredibly racist supposition? No, standard English and grammatically correct speech is not "too hard" for minorities to learn. People from some minority communities might find it more challenging to learn if they were raised using colloquial, or slang-based English, but it's certainly not too hard. To suggest otherwise is arrogant and patronizing.

[Taneras]

"But, she's an undergrad researcher!"

Let this be someone being denied an overnight stay at Airbnb because of their race and its evidence of wide spread xenophobia.

[Fencers]

Biased, sensationalist article belonging to a biased, sensationalist agenda driven website.

This is not respectable.

[Spectral]

It's the same school that has a class titled "The Problem of Whiteness". There are a lot of great departments at UW, but they also produce a lot of pseudoscience and anti-white resentment, so this isn't really all that surprising.

[NED funded]

What an idiot.

An undergrad researcher

Well that explains everything.

[ItachiZaku]

Aspect	Example	Standard English meaning
Habitual/continuative aspect	He be working Tuesdays.	He works frequently (or habitually) on Tuesdays.
Intensified continuative (habitual)	He stay working.	He is always working.
Intensified continuative (not habitual)	He steady working.	He keeps on working.
Perfect progressive	He been working.	He has been working.
Irrealis	He finna go to work.	He is about to go to work.

Fuck me, seems I be speaking ebonics too damn much

[Robyn]

You know what's funny? People in the US don't even speak PROPER ENGLISH.
Maybe make English the official language of the US before designating what type of English to use.
Ebonics= AAVE.

[Risale]

I am with Robyn on this, I mean the US doesn't even speak proper English it is a dialect and this undergrad wants to dumb it down even more.

[Endus]

It is incorrect to frame prescriptively correct English as "proper English," however, as written language is secondary to spoken language and prescriptive English is a derivative of descriptive English, not the other way around.

Hell, American English is itself the same kind of thing, to a lesser degree. You folks dropped the "u" in words like "colour" and "honour", for instance. One dialect isn't "more correct" than another, in any overt sense. And implying that those speaking a dialect are less intelligent for doing so is just prejudiced and wrongheaded.

[Ahhdurr]

Aspect	Example	Standard English meaning
Habitual/continuative aspect	He be working Tuesdays.	He works frequently (or habitually) on Tuesdays.
Intensified continuative (habitual)	He stay working.	He is always working.
Intensified continuative (not habitual)	He steady working.	He keeps on working.
Perfect progressive	He been working.	He has been working.
Irrealis	He finna go to work.	He is about to go to work.

That's actually pretty interesting.

[Ghostpanther]

Just ignore her dude.

Best solution.

[GrinningMan]

lmfao... Too hard to learn, huh? That's incredible. Being Gallagher means never having to worry about being low-key racist.

[Shadowferal]

U of Wisconsin Researcher: Standard English ‘Oppressive’ to Minorities; Teach Ebonics Instead

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/u-of...onics-instead/

An undergrad researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has entered the public limelight with research indicating that standard English is “oppressive” to minorities, essentially stating that grammatically correct speech is too hard for them to learn.

Undergrad researcher that is quite frankly insulting minorities' intelligence.

What next? Justifying various differences in education in the south too?

[GennGreymane]

I blame the cheese

[Deleted]

Ebonics?? Jive is where all the cool cats are.