Standard English Essay Research Paper Jessica Green3199English

Standard English Essay, Research Paper

Jessica Green

3-1-99

English 1A-04

Essay #2 Final Draft

I myself have never used my language to really shape my identity. I was

born in the United States and English is the national language. Call me ignorant

or selfish but I believe if you come here you should learn English. I do not care if

you speak your language at home or with friends, but if you expect everyone to

cater to you, you must be crazy. You knew the national language when you

arrived. The United States provides bilingual classes, bilingual voting ballots, as

well as any information you might need. My family went to Europe last summer

and they were treated very badly. No restaurants would serve them. When they

did it was half an hour to an hour after locals, and they were charged for things

the locals weren t, just because they didn t speak the native tongue. I think

Immigrants are lucky to live here. The least they could do is learn limited

English. Discrimination on the basis of speaking non-standard English is a

terrible thing for an immigrant to go through, but that s the whole purpose of

learning so called standard English so that we can all understand each other in

the land where the national language is English.

Amy Tan describes a childhood during which she was pushed toward

math and science like most Asian -Americans. She believes her language had a

huge impact on her identity. She always felt limited because of the broken

English that was spoken by her mother in her home and blames it for her lower

test scores. Tan explains, But I do think that the language spoken in the family,

especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in

shaping the language of the child. And I believe that it affected my results on

achievement tests, IQ tests, and SAT (p.199). Amy thinks that the language

spoken in the home affects a child more than the language of her peer groups.

Most of the time immigrant children or first generation still speak broken english.

They tend to hang out together. They pick others that speak the same because it is

a comfortable environment for them. She believes because her mother did not

speak standard english she could not understand what the test was asking for.

Amy is also affected by the discrimination that her mother received because her

mother spoke broken or limited English. Amy writes, I know this for a fact,

because when I was growing up, my mother s limited English limited my

perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English

reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them

imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect (p.198). That quote shows how she was

unconsciously the one discriminating against her mother. Amy knows that

limited english limits peoples perception because she herself did it. She was

affected by the limited language and it was her own mother. Think of how easily

others perception is limited. Amy believes if something is not said correctly it

must be wrong; the person must not know what they are talking about. As she got

older she stopped thinking of her mother s English as being broken or limited

but more simple for lack of a better word, (Tan p.201). Maybe if we offered

adult education free for immigrants the discrimination could be lessened. The

United States only requires a simple vocabulary to live here. A base standard

language is required so discrimination won t happen. Some immigrants believe

standard english is nesscessary to survive in a country where it is the national

language.

Richard Rodriguez was born in Mexico, and came to the United States

when he was a boy. He says America is great because it is a society of

individuals. Rodriguez says America is a melting pot, a society all its own and it

continuos to work because there is one standard language. Rodriguez writes,

With the exception of the army, the classroom is the most subversive institution

of America ( p.555-556). I agree with him; you can be whatever you want at

home but when you come to a classroom you must at least speak the same

language so we can all understand each other with a common language. You must

come together to learn. You give up everything to be on the same level. Everyone

has a chance to learn together as a group. Rodriquez continues, In the

classroom, children are taught that they belong to a group (p.556). If you teach

them in their own language they will not be part of the group. One way to learn is

by submerging yourself into the language. Rodriguez is against bilingual

education, he believes it would, …betray public education. There is no way for

a child to use her family language in the classroom unless we diminish the notion

of public school, unless we confuse the child utterly about what is expected of

her. Bilin

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