I grew up very privileged. I went to a $30,000 per year private school in Central Jersey for all 15 years of my pre-college education and was expected not to do anything but succeed and go on to college. With that in mind, I started studying the English language at age three through reading assignments for homework – with my parents, of course – and language assessments. I was always considered a strong reader and started reading two grades above grade level starting in first grade.
I come from a home with two white parents but one who grew up with black friends and assimilated to “black” language. I started using “ain’t” and “frontin’” at a young age, but never in the classroom because my white mother would correct it as “at home” language, just as some toys were “at home” toys. I’m sure she was protecting me from any racial issues being that I’m very white and those terms are typically associated with non-whites.
The way my schooling failed me in language education is reflected in Students Right to Their Own Language where the conference wrote, “differences in dialects derive from events in history of the communities using the language, not from supposed differences in intelligence or physiology.” [pg. 6] This is how private schooling from a young age can be most harmful: the superiority of intelligence. I, like most of my peers from that school, didn’t realize I had this complex until coming to college since I grew up with an intense, “proper” education. In college, I’ve realized that not everyone has learned the difference between “at home” language and “at school” language, which begs the question of “does this differentiation even exist?”
McClendon would say yes as his entire educational stance is that the professional world expects a certain amount of English-language literacy presentation that isn’t reflected in African American communities, or “at home.” The standards of public schooling, I assume, are different due to the masses of students and limited resources, so I do not blame either public school teachers, students, or public school parents for not teaching the difference between “at home” and “at school” language. If I had to argue myself, I would say that this differentiation doesn’t need to be taught, not anymore, at least, because the professionalism structure is reorganizing with the infiltration of young millennials and Generation Z.
My school, although privileged, was diverse. I never felt that I was sitting in a classroom of all white students. In fact, I typically sat in classrooms of mostly Asian and Indian students. As I grew through the school, I saw more changes than maybe any other student, and I noticed as more non-white students came in and brought their cultures with them. What we all had in common, though, was the way we spoke to teachers, wrote our essays, and presented in class. That is “at school” language, and that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
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