Markeese King

10/09/2017

English 102-31

Annabelle Haynes

No Space, No Place; Why African American Vernacular English Should Not be

Taught in Schools

Since America’s brave fight for freedom the biggest and most important factor in

American history has always been power. Not only the pursuit of power but irresistible

power, undeniable power, and irrevocable power. It left all people to touch the soil of the

USA to want nothing less. The best form of power that can be denied but never taken

away is knowledge. Knowledge of all things because once you choose to remember no

one can ever make you forget. This in fact is why many are denied the right to learn.

This in fact instilled fear of slave owners allowing the knowledge of slaves. To this day

this has had lasting effects on the African American population when it comes to African

American Vernacular English also known as AAVE. African American Vernacular

English or AAVE is defined as a language born in the American South, and shares

many features with Southern American English. However, it was born out of the

horrifically ugly history of slavery in the United States. (Language Jones) Though I feel

fine with AAVE being taught in the homes of African American citizens I do not believe it

should be taught in primarily African American schools for a few reasons. I feel that if it

is taught at home and allowed at school African Americans with little access to post K-

12 education will never get the ability to learn proper english, as African American
students get older they will struggle with code switching, most majorly African American

schools in the US struggle with low funding which already equates to a poorer quality of

education without AAVE being taught, lastly schooling can’t teach future preparedness if

it is allowing improper English .

Many African Americans, especially from the south, like myself grew up hearing

AAVE in their homes and quickly picked up the talking patterns and began to repeat

them from a young age. In most cases they grow up believing that is the proper way to

talk and communicate until they started schooling. If most African Americans are taught

AAVE at home and at school when are they supposed to learn proper English? Who

would become responsible for making sure children know proper English? AAVE isn’t

just English with mistakes, AAVE is English that is very intentionally incorrect. According

to a British Research Study English is the official language of 53 countries, the first

language spoken by 400 million people, and is even the language of science,

computers, and diplomacy. Keeping this in mind when arguing if teaching AAVE to

primarily black schools is adequate we must remember it shortfalls their understanding

of not only proper english but would leave lasting results in short coming of science,

computers, and diplomacy.

As previously stated I grew up speaking AAVE in my household and didn’t really

have access to proper english until grade school. This immediately taught me how to do

one thing, that thing is to differentiate. I had an understanding of how to talk at home wit

my family and how to talk at school to my teachers and even more specifically in my

writing assignments. I guess in some aspects my personal opinions on the topic are

swayed. Partially because the argument is about what should be taught in primarily
black schools and I never attended one, and the other part because this far in my life

and schooling career I see how fundamental proper English is. The argument can also

be made that if proper English isn’t taught in a schooling environment children will suffer

when it comes to code switching. If they aren’t taught proper English and don’t know it

how will they understand to properly code switch. Code-switching by definition is the act

of differentiating between two or more languages or styles of language in different

conversations. It is proven to be important on many different occasions for a wide range

of reasons. Most people are familiar with code-switching for job interviews, speeches

and maneuvering between professional and personal conversations. (Odyssey) Code

switching is easier for me now because from a very young age I’ve known in certain

places or settings around certain people it is ok to speak a certain way, AAVE in this

case, but in other settings around other people not so much as so. It has definitely been

a skill that has shown itself approved as far as how important it is.

When it comes to the quality of education at K-12 schools it all relies very heavily

on the funding. According to ASCD one of the largest K-12 research groups in most

cases up to 40% of a school’s funding comes from the taxpayers in the schools zone.

(ASCD) That said if there are two schools that are 5 miles apart and school A is built in

an upper class neighborhood that averages an income of $92,000 and school B is built

in a lower class neighborhood that averages an income of $30,000 and also includes

family on government assisted aid. School A already has access, to better pay for

teachers, better textbooks, and extravagant extra-curricular activities. School B on the

other hand will be forced to fundraise a lot harder because it is already behind. The

problem with this is when school B gets teachers it is only getting the teachers that
weren’t qualified to teach at school A. As well the next problem is that majority of the

students attending school A are white and majority of the students in school B are

African American. Many research studies have proven that lower income schools are

more heavily populated by minorities than majorities. If the quality of education lacks in

this schools enough already due to funding what is the need of lessening the education

to the point of teaching poor and broken English? There honestly is no need. These

students did not ask to be brought up in poor income houses, or taught in schools that

were poor income as a result.

Lastly, the founding principle of education is to make sure each individual is

equipped to be successful with all of their future endeavors in life. If that is the case I am

not convinced that switching from proper English to AAVE advances that point I would

argue it is more so hindering the efforts. English class has been a prominent class that I

relied on when it came to doing Job applications, building my resume, job interviews,

and even writing essays for college. I always knew I could rely on what i learned in class

in order to be sure that whatever I was applying for would go well because I would be

using proper English and would propel myself as someone who was proper and would

ultimately be successful as an outcome of my professionalism. This said without proper

English being instilled in the classroom I would not have been as successful in my

endeavors. I would not have had my first job at 16, I would not have been able to

establish my resume, and I may not have even been able to take the time to eloquently

express my opinions through writing as a Howard student.

 Summarizing all of my expressed opinions AAVE should NOT be taught or

accepted as the main language in schools that are primarily African American. Though I

do believe it would be in their comfort zone no one learns or benefits from it.