A Case for Teaching Standard English to Black Students

Abstract

The riots of the late sixties and their accompanying emphasis on blackness-black studies, black literature, and black dialect-had a marked effect upon the teaching of English, which exists until the present time. The black awareness movement affected all teachers, regardless of race. Black teachers knew that they could not sound too correct or too white if they hoped to maintain their racial pride and identity. Being too articulate earned one the label of an Uncle Tom or an Oreo, black on the outside but white on the inside, tantamount to being a honky lover. White teachers, on the other hand, whether they wore their racial attitudes as loose-fitting garments and openly proclaimed that they were comfortable with their prejudices or whether they were the bleeding hearts who would do anything to prove their alignment with the black cause, dared not insist upon the use of standard English in speaking or writing. It became the practice to praise black students for beautiful and profound thoughts, even when the thoughts were difficult to follow. As long as the teacher could discern what the student wanted to say, the paper was given a B or better. From the lips of men like Floyd McKissick and Nathan Hare, learned men in their own rights, the virtues and beauty of black English were extolled. Black leaders pointed out how emphatic and definite black English was. By way of example, a speaker might ask the audience to compare I ain't going to I'm not going. The argument would go somewhat like this.