“And
sure enough, Donny, the child of the parents
who could neither read nor write anything except for their names, was
failing to become literate in school as well,” (123). This quote was definitely shocking at first; I
couldn’t believe that a teacher would make such an assumption about a student whom
she never even took the time to work with. After reading the entire article, I still
found it somewhat shocking. The text describes how a student from a poor
family with parents of little educational background or proper dialect will be
held to a standard, by the teacher, by which he or she is viewed as a student
who has little desire or chance to success in terms of learning literacy. What
a terrible assumption to make! If a student from that background shows little
progress in terms of literacy, it is because he or she has had no example by
which to learn from. He or she should not, by any means, be denied educational
opportunities as a result.
According
to the article, “…literacy knowledge refers to the concepts that children acquire
during their preschool years, during the years preceding the beginning of
formal literacy instruction, in kindergarten and first grade, in reading,
writing, and printed language,” (124). Concepts about reading and of the
written language are learned by a child when he or she is present while those
around him or her read and write as a form of purpose. When a child wants his
or her parent to read aloud, for instance, that is an example of non-print literacy
knowledge. Reading to a child means opening the mouth (allowing the lips to
move freely) and projecting the sounds that make up the words; since that is
the only type of reading witnessed by a child, the child does not understand other
forms of reading such as silent reading. In another instance, a form of print
literacy knowledge occurs when a child scribbles on a piece of paper with a pen
or pencil. The child understands that one writes by making marks on a piece of
paper; the child knows he or she is writing yet cannot decipher what it is that
is written since he or she is not able to read what is
written.
When
stereotyping a student (or his/her parents), it is common for the teacher to criticize the student and
not acknowledge his or her achievements/struggles. The text states, “If the child’s
family is poor, his parents are undereducated, the dialect nonstandard, then we
are much more likely to interpret experiential difference as a deficit in the
child, in the parents, and in the sociocultural community within where the child grew
up,” (130). Being that, if the teacher assumes that the child is incapable of
obtaining forms of literacy knowledge, the teacher will show little to no
effort to offer that child a chance to succeed.
Contributing to poor literacy instruction are the
teachers and administrators –who tend to often ignore the issue at hand. For
instance, while reading about Donny, I recall that although unprepared to
further his education at a higher grade level, the teacher as well as the
principal enabled him to advance to the third grade. Fortunately, there was
intervention, but had there been no means of intervention, a student full of promise
would have been advanced to the succeeding grade level each year while still
unable to master the basics of literacy knowledge: reading and writing. Shouldn’t
teachers and administrators spend more time on the quality of one’s education and not just the quantity –being the amount of time not being spent working
with that student in fear that he or she may become a burden to that teacher/administrator
and his or her time.
In a two year study of kindergarten and first-grade
children (Purcell-Gates & Dahl, 1991), Purcell-Gates alongside Karin Dahl “found
that, across the board, these children (from economically stressed homes) had
less knowledge of written language and how reading and writing work than children
from more middle-class homes,” (126). If one is believed to not surpass the
common misconceptions and assumptions made about those of lower-income
families, denial of educational opportunity will occur as a result.
In terms of the relationship between language and
literacy, language can be viewed as nonessential in terms of understanding
literacy. If an individual is language deprived, it will be difficult for him
or her to communicate, thereby, how will literacy occur? If the individual is
given a language (whether spoken or signed), however, he or she will thrive in
terms of literacy, for the two complement each other.
Educators alike are known to have the common assumption
that those who are poor, less education, and/or have nonstandard dialect are
less likely to succeed in terms of furthering their educational opportunities.
As a result, educators often become judgmental towards those students whose
family is poor, is undereducated, and/or whose dialect is nonstandard, offering
them little opportunity to succeed in terms of educational opportunities. To
beat this common assumption and to no longer deny students of educational opportunity,
educators must treat all students equally, no longer making assumptions about
each student based on his or her personal background. If they cannot succeed in
doing so, little to no effort will be offered to those students, resulting in discrepancy
in the each student and an insignificant success rate within the classroom.
Being from northern West Virginia, I didn’t know of
anyone who actually had an accent while in high school. In high school, it was
all about using “Proper English”, so I find the term to be a natural way of
speaking. I was one to grow up amongst people who were conscientious of not
using double negatives or misusing subject-verb agreement, conditional verb
forms, verb participles, or adjectives and adverbs. And honestly, the word “ain’t”
has never been in my vocabulary nor will it ever be. I don’t use slang and try
to pronounce words to the best of my ability. I suppose that because of the
environment in which I first engaged in literacy knowledge and in which I
learned my love for English as a subject and as a language, I prefer to follow
the rules of “Proper English” and often find myself correcting those who do
not. 
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