A Sympathetic Reading on Jordan's Entry

As I began reading this, I not only began to truly sympathize with Jordan, but also began thinking about other 'forms of English', that may have slipped into the cracks of our own culture. This thought process began with, ' " What we causually call ''English'', less and less defers to England and its ''gentlemen''..." ' Considering how many people, how many nations use English in their culture, it is no wonder that the language has changed vastly from that which was used by its predecessors. In fact, one could almost broaden this essay by moving beyond 'Black English', into specific dialects of English in countries like Australia, Canada, South Africa, where their forms of English are more colonial based. However, what I find absolutely fascinating is that we all are taught the same basic form of English in school. It's when we leave the school grounds that we use this language however we see fit. Yet if we were to write out the words we say in their true phonetics, we would hard pressed to understand what was written. Such was the case when the Black students began to read 'Black English', out of the book, 'the Color Purple', by an accomplished author Alice Walker. This book was written purposely using 'Black English', yet because the students were taught, or beaten into, Standard English they found reading the novel quite challenging. Though it took some time to understand and learn Black English, it was used more frequently in writing by the students, most notably after their classmate Willie Jordan lost his brother Reggie in a brutal police murder.
Further reading shows that like any other language, custom, religion, or form of culture, it cannot be put into a stereotypical box. This doesn't mean there aren't borders and rules; simply put any aspect in a culture has many more elements to it than at first glance. "There's a whole lot more to Black English than mothafuckin'.'' This can also be true with religion, there's a lot more to them than the rituals themselves. There is a reason why we speak how we do, why we worship who we worship, so on and so forth. I believe that is the point Jordan is trying to make, at least on some level.

Sympathetic Jordan

June Jordan tries to teach her class about Black English. When they all finished reading their first assignment of it they all were confused saying it did not make any sense. But why would it be difficult for them to read if Black English was originated from the Standard English? When she tried to show them how to interpret it into Standard English, they all realized it was not as hard as they thought and started having fun with it. It became much easier for them to understand and enjoy. Black English is just another unique language that shows a different approach to its meaning. They were able to take the Black English and use it to express to the police how they felt about the killing of Reggie Jordan. The Black English helped give them their own chance on expressing how they felt in a different style text which opened them up more to the people. Even though their letters did not make it into any newspaper or television news station they felt better knowing they still were able to express themselves in a unique manner.

June Jordan: Sympathetic Post

When June Jordan first introduced that she was using Black English in her class to teach, I thought that it allowed her students to go at learning from a different angle. For some students, it may have made it easier to understand, for others harder. I say this because most of her class felt that the way the language was made it improper and they did not belong. The purpose of the text was to show how the use of black english was used in her class. Willie Jordan had a brother who was said to be murdered by the Brooklyn police. They assumed it to be a police brutality case based on the race of his brother. Jordan and her students wrote a statement to the Brooklyn police because they felt what happened was unethical. They wrote these letters using black English because they felt that the message might get across more clearly and the way they wanted it to throughout the black communities. The use of black english in the reading was a great way to get across how the actions that occured lean towards racism by a white cop on a black male. I also think that with the students use of the black english it opened themselves up more to the community and it helped them get their point across.

Sympathetic: Jordan

Also biting my tongue with Sam….forget the Tylenol, pass the Gin!

Why us spose be speakin good English, they English?  We take they English and makes for us.  It sound right ta us, and longs us understan it, that what matter.

Black English, though separating itself from the standard structure of words, is a suitable language that offers a different approach to expressing thoughts.  It is unique for it necessitates the learner to abandon almost all rules concerning verb tense, the use of double negatives and pronouns of Standard English while still forming complete and clear sentences.  Black English is an aide to those who use it to allow themselves to connect with each other on the most honest level.  Although its general form originates from Standard English (which was once withheld), it has been transformed into a language all its own for its native users.  It allows its users (those who were/ are in oppression) to feel that one area of their life—the most important—is untouched by those of dominance and it serves as a means of survival from that same control.  Jordan’s class’ decision to write their letters using Black English demonstrated their support of their language and the ongoing struggle while protesting not only the killing (murder!) of Reggie Jordan at the hands of the police but the resistance to the conventionalities  of the dominant power.


  

A Sympathetic Reading for "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator"

In "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator," Lisa Delpit describes going through school and always her "Black English" corrected by her teachers and mother into "hypercorrect Standard English." She also talks about the way she was taught "'skills' and grammar" in her writing. These ways of teaching were not meaningful to her at all. Instead she preferred a method of learning to speak the correct way by speaking to others who spoke in that manner and prefered "writing in meaningful contexts" over learning the way she had been taught up until graduate school. It is certainly a lot easier to give a hands on approach to speaking and writing as apposed to sitting in a classroom and correcting grammar in a text book or being condemned for every 'ain't' or 'me' where an 'I' should be when you speak. Consistent sentences to correct, is sometimes a good form of learning, but with a more direct and meaningful approach, such as writing a short story, grammar can become a lot easier. The same goes for speaking. The author preferred a more "holistic" form of teaching where reading and writing are mixed together and focus was on the meaning and not just the form.

Sympathy for Delpit

My understanding of this article was that Delpit suggests that school systems cannot rely solely on skill based learning(traditional drill based learning and specifically in this article grammar and writing protocol was mentioned) or progressive "fluency" based learning (it doesnt matter what your work looks or sounds like as long as its your own voice because you're special), a compremise should be reached. It also seems to suggest that she believes black and white children need different training.

Really I dont know what else to say, since I have no opinion here, and no deep insight to offer, I'm just spitting back out what i read.

Sympathizing with Delpit...

"Why do the refrains of progressive educational movements seem lacking in the diverse harmonies, the variegated rhythms, and the shades of tone expected in a truly heterogeneous chorus?"

In those words, Delpit opens a can of worms. The condition that the education system is currently in, the condition of academia in general, and even our own cultural standards come into question. Delpit is asking, with all the openminded, "progressive" individuals involved in education, what keeps ALL of us from being allowed to shine in our own particular way... Ultimately her writing deals primarily with the issue of black literacy in education and why innovative practices and new age educational ideals aren't cutting it.

Language shapes perception. That's the foundation for learning. Language is the channel that ideas, both mundane and revolutionary, are transmitted on. People of different cultures come to see the world according to their own cultures' language (Think about last week's readings, about how Min-Zahn Lu saw the word "red" changing and warping as her culture evolved around it.)To teach a multicultural classroom, one needs to take all cultures present into consideration. What may accelerate the learning of one cultural element in the class might impede another. It is this core that forms the basis for Delpit's arguements against contemporary "one size fits all" educational standards.

Delpits sympathetic reading

After reading Lisa Delpits "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator" I have come to conclude that she believes that it is the educators problem for why black students are not grasping the concepts of literacy as well as other students. Delpit describes the different styles of teaching and how different styles can reach students more than others. Throughout Delpits teaching years all she has been interested in was teaching in an untraditional way but she found that students were not understanding the material as well as when being taught in a traditional way. The problem with teaching in just one way is that other teachers are not willing to hear other ways of teaching and are unwilling to compromise in a teaching method. Black teachers find themselves to feel as though their voices are being hushed from non-minority educators. Therefore, until educators can come together and develop a style of teaching that works for all students, the students are the ones suffering.

Reading Lu and Rose

The readings by Rose and Lu put one thing forth: literacy is an essential tool for enriching any life. To be literate in the eyes of Mike Rose is to have the power to lift one's self above the shackles that illiterate life imposes. In Lu's opinion, literacy is the cornerstone (albeit a burdensome one at times) of a cultural perspective, without which, one would be limited to the views expressed by a particular interest or group. While both authors stress literacy as a tool needed for success in general, they both go about proving their point in very different ways.

In the reading by Rose, literacy is being experimented with by the Bay Area literacy program. It's participants are all older, and all have had personal opportunities to observe the pitfalls illiteracy poses in every day life. While these people have all grown up without the insight literacy fosters, Lu had been raised with a multicultural background from the start. It is in this distinction between the age and experience of its characters that the true meaning of literacy is found.

When given the tool early, even despite a tumultous context, Lu was presented the privelage of being allowed to decide for herself what her political views were. What she read may have had concequences for her socially, but inside her own mind, her literacy allowed her a greater choice personally. Inside the minds of the students of the Bay Area foundation, literacy was an elusive beast that had known as well as unknown implications and even sometimes scared the students with its complexity.

All in all, both texts are uplifting reads... Whether it's the musings of a young student or the triumphant victories of an older one, literacy empowers.

Sympathetic Reading of June Jordan’s Essay

For this post I’m going to have to bite my tongue so hard that it’s going to take a fistful of Tylenol™ to numb the pain. Personal opinion on the article aside, it’s time to sympathize!

As a college English professor, June Jordan views “Black English” not as a bastardization of the English language, but as a cultural literary and communicative device. Under the influence of her students’ reaction to the use of “Black English” in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Jordan felt compelled to create a course in which rules were created for the use of Black English. The focus of the essay then switches to an individual student who happened to be doing an independent study project on racial inequity in South Africa. Coincidently, this student, Willie Jordan, had a brother who was murdered by the police in Brooklyn in what was presumed to be a classic police brutality case based on the race of the victim. June Jordan and her students felt so deeply about the murder that they wrote a statement to the Brooklyn police department in Black English. Professor Jordan believed strongly that the use of Black English in a statement issued to a major police department would get the message across about the affect of police brutality in the black community. In order further develop this issue of social inequity and racial prejudice , June Jordan’s essay concludes with a personal statement written in “Standard English” by Willie Jordan about how his brother’s death influenced his views on the injustices in South Africa.

Avoiding being critical of this essay took a lot of effort on my part. I’ll try not to hurt myself patting my own back.

Rose and Lu

Rose and Lu

In “Crossing Boundaries” Rose talks about looking past deficiencies, and working towards helping illiterate adults. Rose struggles with finding a teaching method. He is working with people who are past the age of using education to achieve long term goals and dreams. These adults are going back to school only to attain a high school degree so that they can receive a better wage at work. Rose describes how these adult are smart, they can get by in their everyday lives. They are literate enough to help others in their community. Unfortunately when tested these adults fail because they become intimidated by the unfamiliar words. On the other hand, in Min-Zhan Lu’s “From Silence to Words: Writing as a Struggle” She talks about her conflict between languages and knowing too many words, or too many meanings for words. For Lu, the words and language she used became more of a hassle then it did anything else. She describes the way she moved between languages like putting on and taking off clothes. Both worlds taught Lu that she should only take one side, home life or her country. Both of these literature pieces were very different in their message but they both talked about their struggle with language.


..i hope i got the message from both of these readings right.

Delpit reading

After reading Lisa Delpit's " Skills and other dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator", it made me realize that even though some ways of teaching is excellent for others it may not be good for some. Although I already knew this concept some where in my sub consciousness, it almost brought it into prospective. Delpit really wanted to be a non traditional black teacher she wanted to use what she learned to benefit the black children. Couldn't most people sympathize with her? Don't most if not all teachers want to take what they have learned in school and use it to better educate and help those that they teach?...For some reason this is sounding more critical...Maybe I just don't understand what a sympathetic reading is. O well...On we go...Throughout her story she shows the reader that she understands others teaching styles, but she rather her own. It's almost like she is saying to each their own but my way is better. Although through the story she tells the readers the difference of people. Some are fluent and some have skills. When Delpit realizes that her open teaching does not work for all children because all children are different, she finds herself becoming more like the black "traditional" teachers. I'm glad that she found that all students learn differently and that she was able to accommodate all children.

Lu and Rose

I really enjoyed learning what an actual struggle in life is. I mean in every day life I am faced with simple "struggles" that make the world seem so difficult, like waiting too long in the lunch line. Lu had to face two seperate worlds that collided everyday. It taught me alot about dealing with life and how lucky I am to be able speak one language!

Rose took the opposite role in his article. Instead of being the student facing these struggles, he was the teacher that had to find ways to help motivate students. Rose is a great example of a person who wants to see people reach their potential and live up to their future aspirations.

Rose & Lu

Well I liked these two better, i guess its because they were nice and straightfoward. I enjoyed Rose's discussion, especially how he gave neat samples of dialog between him and students. It seemed to really validate the article.

I think Lu also did a good job. I dont know why, but I kept putting myself in her shoes. Maybe its just me. I wanted her to embrace one side or the other in her struggle. I guess thats what I would have done.

Lisa Delpit..a sympathetic voice...

After reading, Delpit's voice on "Black English" and sympathy towards Philadelphia's minority , educational system, I better understood the difference between teaching students "skills" in learning, and teaching them how to be "fluent". Throughout Delpit's, teaching experience, she tries to differeniate between why some students can be fluent in literacy, but do not seem to aquire the proper guidlines for literacy, and vice versa. She understands and sympathizes with her students and collegues to see every view point, the inside, deeper effects of teaching methods. I came to learn, that many minorities are "fluent", in some aspects, the way they talk, and how they choose to be fluent, but some may not know how to put their voice into skillful and successful ways in writing. However, the point is, to help minorities understand that they can still be themselves in their voice, but also comprehend traditional English values as well. As Delpit mentioned, I to hope teachers, black and white, Irish or Italian, would accomadate to everyone one of their students of all colors, in all degrees.

Lu and Rose

Both articles this time were much more comprehendible and also knowledgeable. I found it interesting to see how difficult it was for Lu growing up and facing the problems of her home life and her school life. For anyone it would be difficult and I found it inspiring that she never gave up on either no matter how hard things became. She grew up basically with no friends since she was different and everyone else seemed to be the same. She counted on her family to be there for her but at some points did not know if what they were teaching her was right. Keeping her two worlds, the school and then home separate was a challenge and struggle but one that helped her continue to keep pursuing her education, and eventually leading her to a future career as a teacher. Reading about someone else’s struggle to get and education in another country made me look at my life and see how it wasn't so bad after all.
Rose on the other hand had to deal with the problems of illiterate adults. People who grow up in poverty do not have a strive to get an education or try to make something of their education. They know that they will not be able to get anywhere and just don't try. Being a teacher and wanting to help them learn how to understand words and phrases he teaches them in a way that they will be able to remember a word and what the meaning of it is. He hopes that with this help of their education they will be able to make better lives for themselves and find better jobs to make their lives a little bit better.

Lu and Rose...much better

These two articles were intellectually stimulating as well as comprehendable. Lu describes her troubles from growing up in two conflicting worlds and being a student, where she must use a diferent language from what she uses at home. For anyone this would be a challenge hard to overcome. She recalls her school life and home life as being full of frustration and confusion. As Lu went through school she was learning two meanings for words such as the word "class". She was excluded from groups of friends in school because of her background, and as we all know it is hard to be different when everyone else is the same. Lu overcame the differences between her family and society and became a college professor and she teaches her students to struggle, for it was her struggle that lead to her success.
Rose, on the other hand, describes the struggles of adults who are illiterate in society from a teachers point of view. People who are born in underclass families or grew up in bad neighborhood tend to get "lost in schools" causing these people to be stuck in unskilled and semiskilled jobs. He teaches them in a way that they can understand; therefore, they can make better lives for themselves.

Sympathetic Reading on Jordan's text

In Jordan's text I think she used "Black English" as not just a language, but to help disclose many issues in society. I think the use and teaching of "Black English" was to make Afro-Americans feel more respected. Many felt that they grew up in a place where they could not show their true face, as if they do not belong. The "White English" language that was spoken made them feel hostile, something that will never look or sound "right" to them. They believed that white standards control verbal proficiency, correct or incorrect language skills. In order for themselves to learn their way around the enviroment, they thought instead of hiding their word habits, to surrender their own voice hoping for respect from others who don't normally respect others, other than themselves. It made them feel better to have their own language and rules and to be able to control it, rather than one dominated by the white population. They wanted to show their true selves. I think the Willie Jordan story fit into this text perfectly because it was about a black male being murdered by a white police officer, and society did nothing about it to prosecute the murder. I believe the teaching of "Black English" made Willie Jordan and the rest of society want to speak out and to stop the discrimmination. They already spoke out in developing and using their "Black English," so why stop there. They wanted to prove something of themselves in society.

Lu and Rose Response

I found these two articles to be rather enlightening. Lu took an autobiographical narrative and weaved it into a personal statement on how language can subconsciously influence a person’s identity and thought process. Rose provides a narrative on his work experience with impoverished adults and their struggle to become literate in intellectually competitive environment. Even though Lu and Rose both used a different approach to display their point, one from the perspective of a student and the other from the perspective of a teacher, both articles have a focus literacy playing a vital role in the shaping of people as members of society.

Lu and Rose

I enjoyed these essays, but the Lu one kind of lost me a little bit in the middle and im not sure if I'm exactly correct on what I'm talking about, but here it goes.

Lu and Rose are both college professors and in both their essays they strongly depict the motivation of education. They are both similar in that way, but I think they differ a great deal on their educational dilema's. In Roses' essay he discusses helping others who are "working-class children, poorly educated Vietnam vets, underprepared college students, and adults in basic literary programs" (Rose, 124). He had a passion to help people who dreamed to one day be correctly educated and be able to obtain a job with a decent wage, and to be in control of their economic life. In Lu's essay she discusses her own education. An education that was dominated by memories of confusion and frustration. Her education was torn between two worlds, and two languages; home and school. A world dominated by the ideology of the Western humanisitic tradition and a world of a society dominated by Mao Tse-ung's Marxism.
Rose longed to help understand why his students take tests certain ways, why they don't understand the big picture, because it was a time when many were "intellectually deficient." He wanted to help those who suffered because of lack of education. He wanted to help them socially, by educating them so they can eventually have more open-minded oppurtunties that can improve their health and the welfare of their families. Lu longed to be able to maintain the education of the english langauge that she had worked so hard to learn, as well as maintain her chinese language. She was torn between the two, and suffered through controversy because of the Chinese Revolution. She was torn between her family and the way her family educated her and between her school and society and how they wanted to educate her.

Sorry, it is long!