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Soc/100 Final Book Reflection

858 Words4 Pages

Andrew Reitemeyer
Professor Espinoza
SOC 100
25 May 2018
Final Book Reflection I have learned a lot through this book and mainly how much power language has on people. The authors that wrote these essays in this book all have a common belief about how potentially harmful language and the attributes of it can be for children in the classroom that are growing up and adapting to their surroundings. The book’s three main points include “language and identity”, “language and political hierarchy”, and “language and cultural conflict”. Much of this book talks about the struggle for African American students and the ongoing debate surrounding Ebonics and how that affects them in the classroom. Finding your identity through language is a very big …show more content…

The book talks about the way language that is spoken in the classroom and how it constructs the negative consequences in a way that is productive. The book gives and example that the book gives for constructing language, is when Lisa Delpit shares how her daughter switched from a predominately white school to a school that is more influenced by African Americans and through this transaction her daughter has ran into a culture shock. Lisa said that her daughter adapted to the culture by connecting their language form with everything that is self-affirming, things that build esteem, and things that are inviting to be fun. Lisa’s fears for her child were that she had different cultures to adapt with including the ones at home and the ones at school, but speaking out against a child's home language basically means you are speaking out against that person background and their family. So if Lisa daughter didn't react to her surroundings than she wound basically not be accepting the culture that surrounds her. In the book it mentions how the psychologist Asa G. Hillard picks up on the theme on how American language now a days has a major effect on African Americans, and she thinks that we need to re-educate to the real truth of language which begins with the understanding of where African Americans come from and their language as well as knowing what basic …show more content…

The topsy turvy practice where teachers try to put themselves in the students shoes, can be very effective because it can help teachers relate to student through their culture and language which can help student learn more effectively. The trouble is for our society is that linguistic racism fails to provide an education for students to come and understand one another in this troubled democracy that favors only the intelligent groups or people that they perceive as

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