"We must begin to comprehend and deal with the real issues involved in the failure of the schools to teach, to their fullest potential, the millions of children and adults from minority and low-socioeconomic communities." - Victoria Purcell Gates
(Gates, 2002)
Not only does this quote from Dr. Gates summarize her chapter titled "As Soon As She Opened Her Mouth", but also it allows me to explain what some of my beliefs behind real issues involved in the failure of a school's ability to teach. As Dr. Gates would agree, the failure of schools stems from a teacher's failure to accept the challenges of their students. Many times teachers set high expectations on students who often fail to achieve. There are many challenges that a teacher combats in these situations such as absences, lack of motivation, and lack of support. With that in mind, I believe that many teachers have a tendency to "write off" struggling students, which is demonstrated by Donny's teacher who was working with Dr. Gates. The true issue here is not that the teacher expects too much of a child, but instead is the fact that the teacher didn't provide the time or effort to help a struggling student overcome obstacles. This is true for more than just Donny's case. I believe that Donny's teacher used Donny and his family's social economic status as what seemed to be an acceptable excuse for not teaching Donny to become a better reader and writer. Instead of accepting the challenge, Donny's teacher decided to avoid the challenge, which was probably due to her inability to teach a student in Donny's situation.
Throughout Donny's story as it related to Dr. Gates, she explains how her experience with the family helped her to realize Donny's potential to be literate. She emphasized that dialect and language had no affect in which defeated Donny's ability to gain literacy knowledge. Other studies had proven to her that children associate meaning to words and sounds, which is a step in becoming literate. In one study, a child was observed as understanding written items contained meaning as well. This allows for the conclusion that literacy knowledge is understanding the way humans communicate in its various forms of reading, speaking, and writing. Dr. Gates continued to explain that Donny's inability to read and write was due to his lack of reading and writing to transfer meanings in his daily home life and not his dialect or way of speaking.
In my view, I see Donny's dialect as a step toward literacy as he has gained the ability to speak with meaning. The teacher's stereotypical mindset caused her to overlook the potential of Donny's ability to learn to read and write. Although Donny's language wasn't as proficient as other students, he still contained the ability to become a better reader and writer through the use of his language. I believe that the neglect on the teacher's part to see Donny's situation as a solvable challenge ultimately caused Donny to age without acquiring a higher meaning of words and the ability to express his feelings through words.
The attitude of the teacher is the same attitude that attributes to the saying, "A good teacher learns from their students." Even today I believe that teachers tend to ignore their students. They ignore their interests, concerns, and most important is that teachers today ignore their student's lives and stories. At this point you can probably see that teaching no longer becomes a desire for a person but instead it becomes an easy way to collect a paycheck. Also, this situation allows for teachers to contribute to poor literacy instruction as their neglect to reflect on the events taking place in their classroom causes them to ignore the needs of their students.
As previously mentioned, I felt that Donny's teacher used an excuse, which was most likely accepted by members of her community, to avoid providing the proper education to Donny. If this is true, then I also believe that language has become the means of dividing people into separate social classes. The members of the community who have also acquired the stereotype toward Donny's family can now deny him of his right to the opportunity of being educated solely based on his dialect.
Unaware that Donny's dialect had not eliminated him from understanding how to read and write. His teachers have overlooked the fact that literacy is not understanding a specific spelling or pronunciation of a word but instead literacy is understanding meaning from words. This causes for a teacher to address different forms of communication in their classroom and teaching students how to read, write, and speak before critiquing spelling and pronunciation. Also, teachers need to cripple the existing self-fulfilling prophecy associated with various stereotypes. I believe that the teacher could have changed Donny's life by doing this with the hillbilly stereotype.
It is also important for me to address that "proper English" is an necessity in a person's education. I feel that the ability to effectively communicate with people is a learning goal for any teacher in the education field. I feel that addressing language, dialect, and vocabulary in a classroom with a positive attitude is the best way to educate students on having a common language with proper spelling, punctuation, and pronunciations.
I also recognize that some people would prefer to stay true to the way they behave in terms of communication. This is why I feel diversity is so important to have in a classroom. Accepting the fact that everyone has a specific way of doing things allows for people to appreciate various cultures and understand the important in having a common ("proper"... I prefer to use the word "formal") language.
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"But in the 1880's that started to change. Outsiders came, ones who didn't care about the thriving farms. They wanted raw materials for their factories, and the mountains had them."
Throughout Donny's story as it related to Dr. Gates, she explains how her experience with the family helped her to realize Donny's potential to be literate. She emphasized that dialect and language had no affect in which defeated Donny's ability to gain literacy knowledge. Other studies had proven to her that children associate meaning to words and sounds, which is a step in becoming literate. In one study, a child was observed as understanding written items contained meaning as well. This allows for the conclusion that literacy knowledge is understanding the way humans communicate in its various forms of reading, speaking, and writing. Dr. Gates continued to explain that Donny's inability to read and write was due to his lack of reading and writing to transfer meanings in his daily home life and not his dialect or way of speaking.
In my view, I see Donny's dialect as a step toward literacy as he has gained the ability to speak with meaning. The teacher's stereotypical mindset caused her to overlook the potential of Donny's ability to learn to read and write. Although Donny's language wasn't as proficient as other students, he still contained the ability to become a better reader and writer through the use of his language. I believe that the neglect on the teacher's part to see Donny's situation as a solvable challenge ultimately caused Donny to age without acquiring a higher meaning of words and the ability to express his feelings through words.
The attitude of the teacher is the same attitude that attributes to the saying, "A good teacher learns from their students." Even today I believe that teachers tend to ignore their students. They ignore their interests, concerns, and most important is that teachers today ignore their student's lives and stories. At this point you can probably see that teaching no longer becomes a desire for a person but instead it becomes an easy way to collect a paycheck. Also, this situation allows for teachers to contribute to poor literacy instruction as their neglect to reflect on the events taking place in their classroom causes them to ignore the needs of their students.
As previously mentioned, I felt that Donny's teacher used an excuse, which was most likely accepted by members of her community, to avoid providing the proper education to Donny. If this is true, then I also believe that language has become the means of dividing people into separate social classes. The members of the community who have also acquired the stereotype toward Donny's family can now deny him of his right to the opportunity of being educated solely based on his dialect.
Unaware that Donny's dialect had not eliminated him from understanding how to read and write. His teachers have overlooked the fact that literacy is not understanding a specific spelling or pronunciation of a word but instead literacy is understanding meaning from words. This causes for a teacher to address different forms of communication in their classroom and teaching students how to read, write, and speak before critiquing spelling and pronunciation. Also, teachers need to cripple the existing self-fulfilling prophecy associated with various stereotypes. I believe that the teacher could have changed Donny's life by doing this with the hillbilly stereotype.
It is also important for me to address that "proper English" is an necessity in a person's education. I feel that the ability to effectively communicate with people is a learning goal for any teacher in the education field. I feel that addressing language, dialect, and vocabulary in a classroom with a positive attitude is the best way to educate students on having a common language with proper spelling, punctuation, and pronunciations.
I also recognize that some people would prefer to stay true to the way they behave in terms of communication. This is why I feel diversity is so important to have in a classroom. Accepting the fact that everyone has a specific way of doing things allows for people to appreciate various cultures and understand the important in having a common ("proper"... I prefer to use the word "formal") language.
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"But in the 1880's that started to change. Outsiders came, ones who didn't care about the thriving farms. They wanted raw materials for their factories, and the mountains had them."
- John O'Brien
(O'Brien, 2003)
When discussing the formation of negative stereotypes associated with Appalachia, John O'Brien connects this experience with a need for resources. Devastating, right? Almost as twisted as some instances related to the removal of Indians from their previously settled land in America. In fact, the situation is very identical. Native Americans who settled their homes, crops, and villages in America were resettled for the same exact reasons. Greedy individuals wanted the land and resources. This reminds me of the Disney movie of Pocahontas where white men come and claim the territory. I've included a clip of the movie for you to relate this historical Native American eviction to this quote.
(Gabriel & Goldberg, 1995)
(Gabriel & Goldberg, 1995)
References
O'Brien, J. (2003, May 10). Tall tales of appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html
Gabriel, M. (Director), & Goldberg, E. (Director) (1995).Pocahontas [Theater].
Purcell Gates, V. (2002). As soon as she opened her mouth. In L. Delpit & J.K Dowdy (Eds.), In The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language culture and power.
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