I think that writing in your own dialect could be great because then you'd have more freedom, but at the same time, how would a teacher correct papers a certain way with a certain rubric if every student wrote differently? I mean teachers could individually speak to each student to go over their writing about what each thing means, but that would take forever, especially for professors. So there would be no universal grading for each classroom or school. Each rubric for a student's paper would have to be tailored for that specific student. Even if we were to be able to write in our dialect, I feel like it's way too late for that because now we're comfortable with "writing White" so we don't feel too right writing in our own dialect.
So let's look at writing the "White" or "right" way. This is also great because then everyone knows what each person means because we were all taught the same thing. Isn't that great? This makes grading easier on teachers and professors and even makes peer editing easier. At the same time, being taught from a young age to write only a certain way kills diversity. We all have our own dialects and if we were taught at a young age that we could only write this way or that way, then we'd slowly lose the way that we were to write (in our dialect) if we were given that freedom to do so.
Now you see, the pros and cons just make it impossible to decide whether a person should be able to write in their own dialect or not. I feel like the best solution (in my eyes) is depending on the circumstance. Let's say a student were writing something simpler like a poem. We should be able to use the kind of slang and grammar we feel like using. On the other hand, if a student were writing something like a personal statement, then maybe we can go back to "writing right." It may not be the best solution, but it's the only solution that comes into mind that brings both sides in for a solution, rather than just choosing which side is best.
I also had a hard time the way our own dialect sounded and felt while I was reading it. I cant believe that I've been so oppressed during my years of schooling to where I think that writing in my own dialect is incorrect. And I think its so messed up to think that we see writing as being correct or spoken correct or sophisticated when a white person is speaking. Its so racist and oppressive to thing that we associate conservative with whiteness.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking and writing a certain way really makes a huge difference even if you're writing about the same exact topic. If you give me a speech about something as simple like cheese it will make me either hate or love it. If the person speaks with ease, smooth and in a way sophisticated you feel a sense of passion and interest in them. Confidence in what you say even if what you're talking about doesn't make sense really does get you somewhere and has impact to the people around listening. For the most part from what i see from our other classmates is that it's hard to use our own dialect in a classroom or professional environment. We all have like 20 masks that are used for different places and people. Our masks build character and if we only had the choice to pick our supposedly "real' one I don't think life and interpersonal relationships would be as interesting.
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