"Again and again we conclude that in developed countries and in third-world countries, learners from impoverished and low-status groups fail to develop as fully and productively literate as compared to learners from sociocutural groups that hold sociopolitical power and favor."
I had a strong reaction to this quote simply because of where I am from. I live in Wetzel county where most everyone exhibits the same dialect and actions. There are many families where I am from who are no where near the middle class status who have children or where children who have rose to excel in life. I will admit that the school system in which I was accustom was very lack luster so many time we learned through our own curiosity. The deemed "smart" children in my area were mainly self taught in the school and at home. The text makes some reference to how some children in poverty have parents who cannot read or write. Illiteracy of a parent can make it hard on a learning child because the parent cannot offer aid to the child. This do not deem a child unteachable. Comparing low status group and third world countries does not seem like a justifiable comparison to me. Third world countries often lack a system of educating children if this comparison was true then we would simply be calling our country lazy and ignorant. Countries with no education system have a viable excuse for the non-education of children; Americans have the opportunity to a free appropriate public education and no matter the issue we are supposed to work to help the child succeed. If a child is deemed unteachable then he or she is denied their right to a free appropriate public education.
An example of a low status student I worked with that shattered the bound of this stereotype was a young boy I worked with in the Energy Express program. Upon meeting this boy I was sucked into stereotype. The program mainly holds a reputation for working with low income, slow learning, and reading deficient students. I arrived with our reputation in mind and began to talk to this boy. He was 9 years old and I could tell he was scoping me out before he began to speak. The first thing he said to me was that he was a 4.0 student who was reading on a 12th grade level and also had a photographic memory. I was very shocked as I looked around the boys home. The thirteen member family resided in a small apartment with only five rooms. The boy was the most mature of his family and took care of his younger brothers and sisters. The were all very dirty children and ate like they had not eaten in months during meals. At program the boy would say that he taught himself to read by listening to the people around him speak. He learned the sounds that people would say and learned to associate it with the letters that represented the sound. He was the most bright child I have ever met and came from a home with dirt floors.
To me it seems that literacy knowledge knowing words, writing words and understanding. Children have to know all three to be considered literate. Literacy can include reading signs, posters, books, or anything with text, but a big part of literacy is recognition. Simply recognizing a symbol from a commercial, movie, or favorite toy company is a building block to literacy. stereotypes can affect instruction in many ways. For example if an educator assumes one is slow because of the way he or she speaks the educator may try to compensate for the delay by teaching more slowly or thoroughly even if it is not needed. If an educator buys into stereotype and assumes all students from an area are the same intelligence level and are "unteachable" that educator will most likely not put all of their time and effort in the education of the students. This is very unnerving to think about as a future educator not giving all of my students the opportunity to learning and gain experience. The entire state of West Virginia is a misconception about language and literacy. I know people who can barely be understood when they speak but when they engage in thoughtful conversation are smart as a tack and make very valid points. I do not understand how people judge us for our accent and way of speech. We are not the only state who carries and accent and a pattern of speech. Schools and teachers need to band together to improve the literacy of all students in the state and country. Students can even be given roles in helping their fellow students learn to be literate. I do not necessarily believe in the use of "Proper English" simply because as it stands right now I do not have a full grasp of it myself. These are the things that I do not believe are taught in some of the schools in my area. I do not remember ever being exposed to "Proper English."
" My own father spent his life backing up, apologizing for the space he took up in the world. He took the hillbilly stereotype to heart and all of his life believed that he was backward and inferior -- a despair I, too, have been trying to escape all of my life."
Works Cited:
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.
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
Stereotypes. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.wvsportsnation.com/2012/02/welcome-to-west-virginia.html
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