AAVE is a recognized dialect of English as is Standard American English (SAE). Both developed from British English at the same time. It has been argued fairly convincingly that black student's under performance in reading and writing may in part be attributed to being taught in a SAE while at home and in the community they use AAVE. So it has been suggested that AAVE be incorporated into school's with high black student populations in order to make learning SAE easier. Much in the same way ESL students receive some of their instruction in other languages in order to build up an English proficiency over time rather than just throwing them into a classroom that is only taught in English.
My fear regarding AAVE being taught in schools is that it will lead to further segregation among the student body. Schools are in part meant to build a sense of commonality through forced interaction and shared experience after all. Splitting up the student body along language lines during class time will not help achieve that goal. It will help divide and alienate people from one and another in schools though. This already happens with ESL students. ESL students are taught in different classes and for the most part aren't forced to interact with other students. Combine that with immigrants grouping together in places like Chinatown and you begin to have two fairly different communities begin to develop side by side. It wouldn't be as bad since AAVE and SAE students both speak the same language though I know.
So what do you think? Should AAVE be used in the classroom to help students learn SAE or should students be beaten into learning and using SAE the same way as everyone else?
My fear regarding AAVE being taught in schools is that it will lead to further segregation among the student body. Schools are in part meant to build a sense of commonality through forced interaction and shared experience after all. Splitting up the student body along language lines during class time will not help achieve that goal. It will help divide and alienate people from one and another in schools though. This already happens with ESL students. ESL students are taught in different classes and for the most part aren't forced to interact with other students. Combine that with immigrants grouping together in places like Chinatown and you begin to have two fairly different communities begin to develop side by side. It wouldn't be as bad since AAVE and SAE students both speak the same language though I know.
So what do you think? Should AAVE be used in the classroom to help students learn SAE or should students be beaten into learning and using SAE the same way as everyone else?
Last edited by Macbeth (2013-01-04 12:21:20)
